Letterplay

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T17:27:00.000-06:00

Vacation Memories

2012-02-07T17:37:00.000-06:00

Back from a wonderful and relaxing week in the Florida Keys and trying to catch up with things here at home. One priority is to get back up to speed with the Beyond Layers class. They have been doing some really fun stuff, like making a "time capsule" of daily images. But since I have about 800 vacation pics, I decided to make a different collage, of the evening we kayaked out into the Florida Bay to enjoy the sunset.

The people in the other kayak are my cousin Barbie and her husband Dannie. They are the ideal vacation comrades!

My Life in Six Words

2012-01-27T21:34:00.001-06:00

In our Beyond Layers class, we were given a challenge this week, based on something that Kim read in Oprah Magazine, which referenced Smith Magazine. It's all about writing a six-word memoir -- six words that describe your life. I came up with a bunch of them, but I guess the one I'm willing to share is shown in this picture:

I do tend to challenge myself to go beyond my comfort zone, as shown in this picture. This was taken from a catwalk underneath the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, West Virginia, 851 feet above ground level. We walked the entire length of the bridge last summer. I'm not exactly fond of heights, and there was nothing between the catwalk and the ground but clean, West Virginia air! (We were harnessed in, however.) I can't say I loved the whole hour+ long walk, but I am glad to be able to say that I did it! And I did get some fun pictures.

Tomorrow my husband and I leave for a week in Florida. The primary purpose is to escape the dark winter days we experience here in Chicago. And we are also meeting up with my cousin and her husband. (My cousin is the one I did the bridgewalk with.) I'm sure we will come up with some grand adventures, including canoeing in the Everglades! Personally, I'm not as afraid of alligators as I am of heights, so it should be a wonderful time. If we survive (!), I'll be back here in a couple of weeks with some (hopefully) great pictures!

Setting a mood

2012-01-24T22:17:00.002-06:00

I took this picture last spring on a rainy day in Chicago. I was initially disappointed that the day I planned to go downtown wasn't sunny and beautiful. But I like the moody, introspective look of this shot. (I did some post-processing in Photoshop and used Kim Klassen's "canvas" texture.)

Here's to an early spring!

Photoshop

2012-01-21T17:06:00.000-06:00

Why is it we (I) don't take the time to do the things I love until I have an assignment? I guess that's why it's so important for me to take classes. And I'm loving Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class. Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon playing with my camera and with Photoshop. And since the Chicago area got about 8 inches of snow yesterday, that was a very good use of my time! (Yes, I did help clear the driveway :-) )

Here are a couple of pics I took the for assigment "less is more".

I like the first one OK, but I really like the second one. I copied the photo and blurred the image. Then I used a layer mask (so easy to do in Elements 10!) to brush the focus back into the flower petals. I added Kim's "awaken" texture, but you can't really tell after I blurred it.

I had so much fun that I decided to play some more, and came up with a new "self-portrait"

I wanted to have a more artsy look for my little icon, and I think this will do nicely!

Another thing I learned from one of my fellow classmates is that my camera has a "dioptic" knob so that I can see through the viewfinder to manually focus without wearing my glasses! It is truly amazing to be able to focus my camera without pulling out the reading glasses every time!

Two books and a class . . .

2012-01-16T21:48:00.000-06:00

Nurture is my "one word" for 2012, and I am in the midst of reading two books that are great companions as I explore how to nurture what is inside me (and, as an extension, other people too). The first is one I was given by a friend last fall. I saved it for the new year. It's Dream Culture.

The quote that opens the book is by Lou Engle: "God had a dream and wrapped your body around it."

Maybe it sounds cheesy to some, but I think it's a great affirmation that what we see in the mirror isn't the sum total of who we are. There are great treasures to be mined if we will just take the time with the help of the one who created us.

Which brings me to the second book:

This is a library book by one of my all-time favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle. I was surprised to find one that I hadn't read already. It's called And It Was Good.

This book contains L'Engle's musings about the early chapters of Genesis, including the creation, with some surprising and delightful insights. She writes about God specializes in asking us to do things that seem impossible to us, and fully expects us to do them. She continues, "Slowly I have realized that I do not have to be qualified to do what I am asked to do, that I just have to go ahead and do it, even if I can't do it as well as I think it ought to be done. This is one of the most liberating lessons of my life."

I submitted a piece to a juried art show last week-end. I already know the piece isn't good enough for the show, but it's been a dream of mine to participate in the show, and I found that it was very empowering to actually go through the process. Maybe next year I'll have something better to submit. (I won't even mind getting the rejection letter because at least I did something!)

Finally, the third piece of the puzzle (so far, at least) is Kim Klassen's Beyond Layers class. Besides giving opportunities to make lovely art out of our photographs with Photoshop, one of Kim's objectives is to empower us to dream and really take off in new directions in the creative process. There are at least 200 participants from all over the globe, and I'm so excited to dive into this year-long adventure with them!

It's going to be an exciting year!

A couple more calendars and more

2012-01-13T22:28:00.000-06:00

I forgot about an important calendar that I have hanging in my studio. Each year our calligraphy group produces a calendar -- each of us creates one month, and someone does the cover and credits page, and then we collate them into cases the size of cd cases. They make great gifts and lots of people buy them. This is the January page for this year, made by Bessie.

And at our annual calligraphy group holiday party last week-end, we also got this wonderful calendar done by Tim Botts, who is also a member of our group, a gifted instructor and fantastic calligrapher.

And finally, my friend Karen made this lovely piece which was hung on our Arboretum tree and then auctioned off at our party. I was so happy to be the lucky highest bidder!

It's humbling and challenging to be surrounded by so many creative people.

Project Pinterest

2012-01-12T19:23:00.000-06:00

After the flurry of Christmas crafts and projects has died down, it's been fun to try some of the recipes that I've pinned on my Pinterest boards. The one for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana caught my eye right away. That is one of my favorite things at Olive Garden, and I found it on Pinterest!

It was a little time consuming to make, but very easy. My daughter and her boyfriend purchased some bread and made a delicious salad to go with the soup.

Believe it or not, it tasted just like the Olive Garden version!

With a little Italian music in the background, it was delicioso! I don't think Olive Garden has to worry about losing us as customers though. It's always lovely when I can get up and know that someone else will do all the clean-up! Be sure to check out the Project Pinterest button on the left for Pinterest projects that other bloggers have done!

Christmas camera play

2012-01-04T19:20:00.000-06:00

Before I leave the Christmas season altogether, I wanted to share these:

Word for the year

2012-01-03T19:29:00.000-06:00

My word for the year is . . .

As I was musing on the word, I decided to create a daily reminder for myself. It hangs above my workspace in my studio along with another important image that I will share about at a later time.

Like many women/wives/moms, I am a giver, and it's easy to get depleted and burned out. So this year I feel a nudge to allow God to nurture me. Not to be selfish, but to replenish the source. For example, I was able to get together with some wonderful calligrapher friends today. We were working on a project, but had a great time together, and two of us had lunch afterward. Nothing earth-shattering, but very nurturing for me (and I hope for the other women as well.)

What is your word/theme for the year? It's always fascinating to hear from friends in bloggerland!

New Year, New Calendars

2012-01-01T14:37:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite traditions each January 1 is to get out the new calendars I have collected, open them, look ONLY at the first month/day/week and place them where they will stay for the year. Here's the calendars for 2012:

The kitchen calendar -- Mary Engelbreit. A few years ago we did our kitchen in "Mary" and each year one of my kids gives me a new calendar. Her whimsical illustrations make me smile.

A daily tear-off for the top of the steps -- more "Mary"!

Right outside my studio -- Pam Johnson Brickell's gorgeous sketches from South Carolina.

Sorry -- I don't know why blogger flipped this one -- but on my desk I have a weekly calendar with illuminations from the St. John's Bible. I had the chance to see some of the original pages from this incredible work last year, and each page inspires awe and worship.

My dollar store Italy calendar for the bedroom. We were there a few years ago and I would love to go back. Right now, just in memories and pictures!

Happy New Year to all!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T16:54:00.000-06:00

My son got me Photoshop Elements 10 for Christmas (I have been using 8), so I played with a picture and came up with this. It's very nice being able to add a mask to a layer with just a click of one button! Can't wait to learn more!

Happy new year, everyone! See you in 2012!

Merry Christmas (a little late)

2011-12-27T19:40:00.000-06:00

I love Christmas with all the great music, family stuff and worship opportunities. What I don't like is putting my daily schedule on hold so we can experience all the Christmas extras. One thing that worked well this year is taking time to do a daily Advent devotional. I learned about the book God With Us, (edited by Pennoyer and Wolfe) at Mary's blog, A Splendid Adventure. Two years in a row she has included readings from the book during Advent. In addition, Lori from Elvie Studio shared about a little Christmas journal she was making this season. I combined both ideas and created a little journal about my daily Advent readings. I wanted to blog about it as I went along, but this will have to do.

Here's the cover

As you can see, it's just a little accordion fold booklet using Arches textwove paper

And here's a close-up of the pages.

It was a great project -- small enough not to stress over and simple enough to do each day (or almost each day). I'm learning that time spent with God and time doing art don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I have tried to keep up with my blog reading, and have been enjoying the traditions, photos and ideas that you (my blog friends) have shared. And I look forward to more great posts in the new year!

Project Pinterest

2011-12-10T16:57:00.000-06:00

Katie Lloyd has been blogging about Pinterest for a few weeks, and I finally was able to secure my own account. So now the challenge is to find something on the boards, pin it, and try to do the project. I chose this: (originally posted here)

First I gathered my supplies. The only thing I had to buy was a wreath form (hers was styrofoam, mine is straw -- it was cheaper!)

I stained the edges of the pages with cheap acrylic paint (to give it a more vintage look)

Then I started rolling the pages and hot gluing them to the wreath form. At first it didn't look great.

Twenty-four hours later (with numerous interruptions), I finally finished. I was so involved with it that I forgot to take pictures during the process. I went through a whole 300 page book! And this is the finished product:

and this

I'm pretty excited about the way it turned out! Check out the Pinterest button at the left to see what others are doing!

New Calendar!

2011-11-29T19:05:00.000-06:00

It's always a treat to look at the latest offerings from my blogger friends. I'm usually so inspired by what others are doing. One of the artists I follow has a gift for capturing the beauty of nature in her sketchbook -- and then she posts her pages and I'm always in awe. Her name is Pam Johnson Brickell, and you can find her blog here. (I'm also a little jealous because she lives in South Carolina where the winters aren't brutal and she can enjoy the outdoors year-round.) ANYWAY, she created a 2012 calendar and had a giveaway on her blog, and I won it! It came in the mail yesterday and it was a little like early Christmas. Every page had me oohing and aahing -- I already have a place in mind to hang it -- right outside of my studio where everyone in the family can admire it.

Here's a couple of pages from it:

Aren't they just magnificent? I think she is going to be making more and selling them, so be sure to check her blog for details! I think they would be just the best gifts for nature lovers!!

Thank you, Pam!

Arboretum tree

2011-11-22T16:37:00.000-06:00

Here's a few more pictures of our work-in-progress. I had to leave the actually tree decorating festivities early so I don't have any pics of the finished product. Soon!

Letter tags that we made into garlands:

Origami stars:

Putting it all together:

Stay tuned . . .

Christmas ornaments already?!

2011-11-10T17:46:00.000-06:00

Our calligraphy group is decorating a Christmas tree at the arboretum this year. So all members have been invited to submit decorated tags and papers. Some will be cut up for origami ornaments and some will be hung as is. Here's what I've come up with so far:

I'll post more pictures as the process continues. We're getting together Sunday afternoon to begin to pull it all together.

Photo shoot

2011-10-18T10:35:00.000-06:00

A sweet girl who is one of my "adopted daughters" asked me to take engagement pictures for her and her fiance. Yesterday was the only day we could meet, but - praise God - the weather was lovely (if a little chilly). I've been playing with some of them in Photoshop and here's a few of my faves so far:

Aren't they adorable?

Thankful for . . .

2011-10-12T18:28:00.000-06:00

Had a bit of a scare this morning. Strange things happening with my vision. The eye doctor told me it was a posterior vitreus detatchment and NOT a retina detatchment. (Which means I'll had to deal with some extra "floaters" in my vision instead of blindness. Wow -- I'm very thankful!)

The moon has been gorgeous the past couple of nights and I just haven't been able to get any good shots. But tonight I got my camera and tripod and managed to capture some of the beauty:

Magnificent harvest moon!

Thank you God!

Art Show Starts Tomorrow!

2011-09-29T20:23:00.000-06:00

After a grueling couple of days and a lot of teamwork, we are ready for the opening night of "Illumination: The Parables" and our artist's reception tomorrow night. This is what the storefront looked like when we began:

We cleaned and painted:

Added some artistic extras:

And turned it into a lovely, welcoming space:

We're at the southeast corner of Lemont Road and 75th in Darien. Friday night, September 30 from 6 - 9 we'll have live music, refreshments and artists!

Early Fall Beauty

2011-09-26T17:36:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday morning I was rushing around getting ready for work when I noticed the play of light in the early morning mist. It was so striking that I decided to skip breakfast and instead take my camera to the Arboretum for a quick detour to the office. Not only was it the most life-giving thing I did for myself all week, but I got a couple of nice pictures as well. This heron was enjoying a leisurely breakfast in the still water:

The dew was magical!

It was a great way to start the day!

Life Goes On

2011-09-13T09:38:00.000-06:00

Wow -- life has been zooming by at an alarming pace lately. No pictures to post today, just a note to say that I'm hoping to be back in a creative way very soon!

Upcoming Art Exhibit!

2011-07-21T13:06:00.000-06:00

Our church is doing an art show in the fall along with our study of the parables of Jesus. The parables lend themselves so well to artistic expression since they use well-known objects and stories to portray abstract and less-understood concepts. Interested in participating? Send me an e-mail at katelehman@aol.com and I'll send you all the information.

Vacation Fun

2011-07-09T21:34:00.000-06:00

I just returned a few days ago from visiting my "twin" cousin in West Virginia. We call each other twins because we always wished we were sisters instead of cousins. She and her husband (and son and cats) were gracious hosts!

While there, we went zip-lining,

Walked the catwalk under the longest single-span suspension bridge in the Western hemisphere,

Did art work at the lovely little cottage on their property,

and had an amazing time! It's good to be home, but I miss my twin cousin and family!

Library demo

2011-06-25T17:26:00.000-06:00

Today the Chicago Calligraphy Collective participated in an event at the Palatine Public Library. One of our members taught a class in Italic Calligraphy, while others of us hosted demos or made bookmarks. We had lots of enthusiastic participants. Here's some pictures from the event.
My friend Pat helped participants create "Flexagons", which are complex creations where you can hide secret messages.

Our bookmark calligraphers worked hard all day.

And I had a steady stream of kids and adults eager to learn the secret of making tiny watercolor blossoms.

Here's what some of my samples looked like. (Sideways picture again . . . sigh)

Everyone had a great time and learned a lot as well!

A New Gig

2011-06-21T20:18:00.000-06:00

When you love to incorporate art into everything in your life, it can be quite an adventure. I work in the office of a gymnastics club for kids, taking registrations, answering questions, printing out rosters, etc. It's a great job. Last week I took on some new responsibilities, and that's how I ended up in front of the gym on a stepladder with containers of brightly colored acrylic paint.

I still have a lot of window space to go, but it's getting noticed. In fact, someone drove by and stopped in to see if I could do the windows for his restaurant. It's not exactly the kind of calligraphy I was thinking I'd be doing, but I'm having a great time. So if you're in the western suburbs of Chicago, on Rolwing Road north of North Avenue, look for my signs! (Or if you know someone looking for a great place to learn gymnastics, this is it!)

More Mosaics

2011-06-08T14:22:00.000-06:00

I said I would post some of the other projects from the class I took over the week-end and here they are. Most of the participants made benches, and two of us did birdbaths.

This is Ginny's birdbath. I love the red and white motif! She used three identical plates for all her pieces. and a few flat marbles for the center.

We had one man in our class. He decided on a farm motif. I think it's very whimsical.

His wife was working very precisely and therefore had to take her piece home to finish it.

Twin sisters who had done this before brought some of their own hand-made garden themed pottery pieces and added them to their benches. One is grouted and one is not (and one is upside down!)

This bench in shades of blues and greens will be an inviting place to sit in a garden.

Here's one final shot of my birdbath. It's sitting in my living room because I have to let the grout cure, then seal it before I can put it in the yard. Sorry, birdies, you'll have to make do with the plastic one that's out there now!

Mosaic Class

2011-06-05T15:11:00.000-06:00

This week-end I took a wonderful class at the Arboretum -- we made mosaic garden items -- and I made a birdbath. I really like it! We started with a table full of plates, saucers and tiles:

I wish I had taken a picture of the plates that I used, but they were really pretty. Here's my birdbath ready to grout, and then the grouting process. (Sorry some of these are sideways. I don't have the patience right now to fix them.) Before the grout:

Looks messy!

AACK! What did I do???

Just a little wiping with a soft cloth worked wonders.

Tomorrow I'll post an actual finished picture of mine, not sideways or still messy like this one. And maybe I'll post some of the projects done by others in the class. We all had such a great time and everyone's project looks fantastic.

Playing in the Studio

2011-06-03T15:22:00.000-06:00

The weather has suddenly turned into summer and I am thrilled! Although I had decided I wasn't going to plant anything this year, I couldn't resist getting some plants to brighten the yard and hopefully attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The past few days I have been happily playing in the dirt and I'm glad I did. Flowers are rewarding for me -- vegetables are just frustrating. :-)

Here's a pic I took -- a macro of a cheddar pink blossom. They are wonderful flowers that come back year after year. Each tiny blossom has two lacy "ribbons" curling upward from its delicate petals. I added one of Kim Klassen's textures (May Magic 2) and used the screen blending mode. I also experimented with the "add noise" filter and then removed some of it from the blossom so the background looked a little more textured.

Yesterday I set aside my neverending list and headed for the studio to do some calligraphy. I promised my older daughter that I would create something for her a long time ago, and yesterday was the day. I think she and her boyfriend will like it. They are coming over tonight and I'll give it to them.

I did the large letters with a pointed brush and the smaller ones around the edge with a pointed pen. Then added 3 prismacolors that she had picked out several weeks ago. I think they'll like it!

Learning and Growing

2011-05-24T20:46:00.000-06:00

Last year I was playing with Photoshop on a photo I took in Italy two years ago. I kind of liked the way it turned out, especially the patina on the fountain. But I thought it was a bit dark.

Today I decided to use it to experiment with some of the new techniques I've been learning in Kim Klassen's Photoshop Essentials class. First I came up with this one.

I played around with some adjustment layers and added a texture from Bonnie's blog. Then I remembered Kim teaching us how to add a vignette around our picture and thought it might be a good look for this one. Here's how it turned out.

I'm in awe of people who are able to explain what they did to get a certain effect, so I'll try. I know I added an extra layer and then used a large soft brush to brush black around the perimeter of the picture until it looked filled in enough. Then I changed the blending mode on the new layer to "soft light", and that made it look really nice. As an added touch, I used a gaussian blur on the same layer to further soften the effect. Now that I look at all three pictures, I want to add a bit of blue back into this one to enhance the great patina on the metal.

Quick Getaway

2011-05-17T15:49:00.001-06:00

In the middle of a stressful and hectic week last week, my husband and I were able to skip town for 24 hours. Since we had business in central Illinois, we stayed at a lovely little B&B in Washington, IL. We highly recommend it. It's called Cornerstone Inn and you can find out about it here. Here's some images from our little getaway.

Our room was filled with antique furniture and nice touches.

We took a walk around town and saw some sweet columbine blooming and some beautiful old homes.

We want to go back, and maybe next time we can stay awhile and relax!

By the way, I posted the final picture here on Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. Click on the button to the right to find out more!

24-7 Prayer Space

2011-05-16T07:06:00.000-06:00

Last week at our church, we set up a prayer space for 43 straight hours, where people could come and interact with God. Here's some images (some Photoshopped for effect) from the space.

As we entered the room, we were invited to take a piece of brown paper and write down all the burdens, worries, etc. that we were carrying and scrunch it into a ball. A large burlap cross was stretched the length of the room, and as we walked, we were able to open our hands and drop our "burdens" on the cross. As you can see, the floor is strewn with these papers. On the front wall is our "graffiti wall of worship".

At the end of the "cross walk" was a baptism bowl.

One of the interactive spaces was the Anchor Cross of Hope (which I believe appeared in another post when I wrote about our Lenten interactive prayer times)

We lit candles and left cards indicating our prayers burning to heaven.

The whole experience was very meaningful to many of all ages and at all hours of the day and night. Next year maybe we'll do it again.

Gloria Deo.

A Springtime Walk

2011-05-05T09:45:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week I was out with my camera and a little extra time on my hands (a rare commodity indeed), so I stopped and took a walk at a nearby forest preserve. I'm always fascinated by the tiny, beautiful blooms that appear in the spring, almost magically through the carpet of dry leaves. Here's a trillium in bloom as well as one I don't know. I added a little Photoshop magic to enhance their beauty:

I also just found out that I won a free class from Alisa Burke! She is doing a class called "Watercolor Bliss", and I was one of three lucky individuals to win a spot in the class. Check out her blog to see how wonderfully talented she is.

Lovin' Spring!

2011-05-03T16:03:00.000-06:00

Our bird feeders are busy with hungry birds these days. To my chagrin, we have alot of invasive species -- common grackles and starlings always seem to be bullying the smaller birds. But we discovered a kind that I had never seen before, so I took my camera out and sat very still to try to get a pic of this shy little bird:

Well, OK, I guess it's still hard to see what it is, but we identified it as a white-crowned sparrow, and his little striped head is very striking. I'll see if I can get a better shot, or maybe play with one that I have to make him stand out a little more. I'd better hurry, the bird book says they will be heading north very soon.

Here's another fave from my watch this morning:

A cardinal and a "common" sparrow!

Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday challange this week is to use Photoshop to enhance a photograph containing a tea cup or coffee mug. I played around and came up with this one:

I added some fallen magnolia blossoms, and used one of Kim's textures (I think "silence") and then brushed away some of the extra texture from the teacups so they would be nice and shiny. Makes me want to have a cup of tea!

New photoshop images

2011-04-26T13:47:00.000-06:00

Happy Spring! April showers have indeed hit the Chicago area, and we are hoping and praying that May brings just as many flowers! Here's a couple of images I used Kim Klassen's textures on:

Hope you are having a beautiful day!

Happy (Day After) Easter!

2011-04-25T19:01:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a very jubilant Easter celebration at our church (Sanctuary 1010). If you take a look at my latest post you will see a couple of pictures showing a bunch of boxes wrapped in brown paper. Here's what they looked like in the back of our worship space:

There were 75 small boxes, and each person was supposed to take one upon entering. Since we had 60 people at last year's Easter service, we thought 75 would be sufficient. WRONG! We ended up with 110 people at our church. We meet in a movie theater that holds 120 at top capacity -- literally standing room only! Very exciting. And people did share their boxes so I think every family had at least one.

After some rousing resurrection music by the worship band (did I mention that my husband was the leader yesterday?!), the pastor talked about how the outside of the package doesn't always indicate what is on the inside. For example, Jesus walked on earth and, for the most part, looked very ordinary. But on Easter his resurrected life was revealed. New life burst forth from out of the old package. To help illustrate that, we had Easter Lilies placed in boxes and looking like they had bloomed and burst through the packaging:

During our face2face time with God, each person was invited to open his/her box. Inside was the final cross in our lenten collection -- the glory cross, representing the power of Christ living in each of us, but hidden in our ordinary packaging.

This is what the front of the worship space looked like:

It was great to have so many join us for such a celebratory morning.

More Lenten Crosses

2011-04-23T21:35:00.000-06:00

This is called the Greek Cross, and it looks like a plus sign. I have to confess I didn't want to come to church the morning we were going to interact with this cross because it's also called the cross of suffering. The 4 points of the cross and the center represent the places where Christ was pierced for our sins -- head, two hands, feet and heart. As the pastor spoke of each of the places, he smeared a bit of red paint on that area (above you see the bottom of the cross, the feet). He talked about us asking God to pierce us -- to pierce our minds so that we are more focused on God and his kingdom, to pierce our hands so we are more open to serving, to pierce our feet so we begin to really go where God wants us to go, and to pierce our hearts so that we become more passionate about the things that God wants us to be passionate about. During our response time, we were invited to come up and drive a nail in the place where we want Christ to "pierce" us. It was a powerful time as we heard the nails being driven into the wood. Here's a picture of the whole cross as we used it during our prayer time last week. During that time, we had a chance to gather around, placing our hands directly on the nails and praying for our church to be "pierced" in those 5 areas.

Last week was Palm Sunday, and we studied the Celtic Cross. I didn't get great pictures, since our worship space is quite dark and I didn't want to use the flash. The Celtic Cross looks like a regular cross with a circle in the intersection of the two beams. Our pastor talked about crossroads in our lives -- the horizontal piece was like our lives as we move in the dimension of what we can see and know. But the vertical piece represents the fact that God intersected our lives in the person of Jesus. The circle represents Christ unifying us with God and with each other. . We set up a large celtic cross out of burlap so that we could walk on it and pray though these conceps. We made the circle out of palm branches with candles interspersed. At the base of the cross, communion was set up, since it is at the base of the cross that we all meet together.

I'm probably not explaining it very clearly, and sorry the pictures are so dark, but it was a really meaningful time.

Tomorrow is Easter -- hallelujah! Here's a couple of pictures which gives a little hint of what our celebratory worship is going to look like:

Happy Easter!

Lenten Prayer -- part 2

2011-04-17T17:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I told you about the crosses of Lent that we are doing at our church. Today I want to mention two more that we used in our Sunday morning services and then prayed with at our church's prayer gathering last week.

The Maltese Cross:

We briefly learned some of the history of this cross. What I remember is that it was found on the Island of Malta (hence the name!) and used by the Order of St. John. The eight points represented the 8 beatitudes, which we have lettered on the sections of the cross. We interacted with this cross on Sunday by writing the names of those individuals that seemed to exemplify those "beatitude traits" to us. Then we prayed over it by thanking God for their lives and asking that we also learn to live those traits in our lives.

The Mission Cross:

I don't have a good picture of the cross before we interacted with it, but it is four "crosslets" which are joined at a 90 degree angle at their bases. They each point in a different direction, hence the name "Mission Cross". When we interacted with this cross, we cut pictures of people out of magazines who represented individuals that we wanted to share God's love with. At the end, we put the silhouette of Christ over top, that we might all be joined together as his body. During our prayer time, we prayed for the ability to show God's love to all the people represented.

Lenten Prayer

2011-04-16T18:56:00.000-06:00

Our church has been doing a Sunday morning series on "The Crosses of Lent", highlighting a different historical cross each week and the meaning behind it. Each week has been rich with meaning. Then this past Tuesday night, we gathered for prayer around the various crosses. We used 4 of them and set each one on a different table with candlelight. Then, as a (small) group, we moved from table to table and prayed using the theme of each cross as inspiration. I didn't get pics on Tuesday, but I was able to come in on Wednesday morning (when there was a bit more light) and take pictures of the prayer stations. Maybe I'll just do 2 today and 2 next time.

Station 1: The Anchor Cross -- The cross of hope

We used an actual anchor in our church service and at our prayer gathering. During our Sunday morning time, we talked about how our faith can serve as an anchor when we are drifting, expriencing storms, or just need to rest. Each of us was given a card with the image of the anchor cross stamped on it. We were to identify something (a Bible verse, a truth) that we can cling to that anchors us in times of need, and write it on the card. Then we were invited to tie the card to the main anchor with twine. It was a powerful way to remember the source of our hope.

At this table during our prayer time, we read aloud some of the "anchor phrases" that were written on the cards, and then wrote the names of people we were praying for that could receive hope from that specific verse or phrase. One very poignant message on a card was written (and signed) by a preschooler who neatly printed, "GOD MADE THE STARS". We wrote several names on that card -- people who needed to remember what a mighty God is able to do for them.

I'll share more next time. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow's theme at church. It's the Celtic Cross, and I bought 18 yards of burlap in preparation for tomorrow's service. I'd better bring my camera!

Words of Encouragement

2011-04-13T21:59:00.000-06:00

My college-age daughter was having a very stressful day today, so this morning I sent her this image and these words from Matthew 6 in the Message.

If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers -- most of which are never even seen -- don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. Your'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

The flower pictured is a called "Prairie Smoke", one of those wildflowers that may never be seen, yet look at how glorious it is! I find that I turn to these verses alot when I need to remember how significant my life is to God and how much I can trust him to work out even the smallest details.

New Opportunities

2011-04-04T19:38:00.000-06:00

I've been playing around with the look of my blog lately, mostly by trial and error and not having the slightest idea what I am doing. But I did recently learn how to make a blog banner, and I think this one turned out OK for a first try. The inspiration for this banner came from Kim Klassen's Photoshop Skinny-Mini eCourse. It's a free 10-day class, but jam-packed with so much information and inspiration. If you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and want to learn more, be sure to check it out! You can get to her site with the button on the right (and down a little). She also has a Photoshop Essentials class which begins the end of this month, and I can't wait to get started with it!

A couple more examples of what I have done as a result of her class are here:

Here's the before shot:

Another one that I cropped and added layers to:

The "before" of this one:

I have to get busy -- I'm participating in a craft show at our church in a couple of weeks. More about that in a future post. In the meantime, I hope spring is arriving soon in your corner of the world!

Back to Photoshop

2011-03-24T10:52:00.000-06:00

So this art journaling stuff is a lot of fun, but I think I am realizing that my true love is photography, especially playing with images in Photoshop. I happened upon Kim Klassen's Photoshop Skinny Mini e-course and decided to brush up on my photoshop skills. I find that hours fly by when I'm working with my images. It doesn't feel as raw or organic as applying paint to paper, but it's very rewarding. Here are my latest photos for Kim's class:

And now it's time to go clean the house . . . there's a time for everything!

More from my trip

2011-03-17T21:50:00.000-06:00

One of the days in California, we took a train to San Juan Capistrano and toured the mission there. These two pages are from that trip. By the way, my cousin let me know today that the swallows are due to return this Saturday. That would be amazing to see.

Here's some pages I did after I returned home. I only brought back a few shells and bits of beach glass. I had a hard time not scouring the beach each day for treasures to bring back home. Instead I tried to just find a few really special ones. And then I found the quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh I included, which summed it all up nicely.

I experimented with cutouts in my journal, which I've never done before. I'm not sure I like the look, but at least I got my treasures in the journal.

California Journal

2011-03-15T19:20:00.000-06:00

I haven't quite finished the journal I began on my Calfornia trip at the end of Janury, but I fully intend to. My mantra everytime I wrote in it was "be fearless". This was going to be an exercise in not worrying about how perfect I thought the pages were -- it was just a matter of capturing images, feelings and ideas on my trip. And I don't like all the pages, but they did serve to capture a lot of what I experienced on the trip. My goal is to finish it by Sunday -- too much time has gone by and the memories are fading! (Guess I need to go back and get re-inspired -- I wish!)

The journal was hand-made by my friend Joyce. She did a beautiful job, and the paper on the outside is from Italy. Isn't it gorgeous?

I brought along colored pencils, some watercolor pencils, a few markers, scissors and a glue stick. Here's some pages I made while there. This first one I did in the airport while waiting to board the plane. Outside I saw slushy snow. But I was already dreaming of sunshine and the ocean.

Could anyone ever get tired of watching the sunset over the ocean? I can't imagine it.

Trying to be more fearless about drawing, so this was a study in contour line drawings of tropical plants:

Just playing with a brochure I picked up at a nature center -- adding some thoughts and doodles.

Paging through this is a great way to remember those sun-drenched days. (Spring is arriving slowly here in Illinois -- we're still in the mud stage right now. But soon flowers will follow!)

Signs of Spring!

2011-03-10T21:33:00.000-06:00

It's been so nice to walk the dog around the neighborhood and see all the little green shoots coming up. The willow trees look like someone took a light green highlighter to their hanging vines -- soon they will be filled with leaves. And there is a whole tree-full of Cedar Waxwings that I see almost every day gorging themselves on berries. I really want to get pics of them, but they are kind of shy, especially around me and my hyper dog!

Today was the day Don and I went to the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Now that is always a wonderful sign that spring is here. Here's some pics from our fun day:

Tulips -- and they were as fragrant as they were beautiful.

This is called a Lenten Rose. It's just stunning!

They had fauna as well as flora. Last year I held her -- and I was scared to death. This year it was fun. I even surprised myself. She's the same one I held last year, so I guess now we're BFF!

They had a display of unique hats created by a fiber arts group. Don decided he liked this led powered one. It changed color!

Although it was rainy and rather cold outside, we were able to forget the dreary day and enjoy the beauty around us. But I can't wait until I can get some pictures of the flowers coming up in my yard.

Journal Page (the first of many, I promise!)

2011-03-09T13:01:00.000-06:00

It's the first day of Lent and, as usual, I have chosen a book to be my companion through this holy season. This year it's Labyrinths, Walking Toward the Center by Gernot Candolini. Actually, this book chose me. I ordered it months ago, and I guess it was stuck in the USPS system. I had already received a reimbursement from the seller and had given up on receiving it. Then it showed up a few days ago, voila! Perfect for Lent. The first chapter shows you how to draw a simple Cretan labyrinth, so I knew it would be fun to put in my journal. Here's the two pages I did this morning:

I'm sure you can't read the text in the labyrinth, so I'll include it here. "This is the day that lies before you. These are the hours. How will you meet them? Ask questions. Ask, what waits for me in the middle? What do I meet, deep in my soul? Do I move on? Do I follow the path? There's no right, no wrong. Just being on the way. Just keep walking. Think about what you'd like to risk in this lifetime. The path will offer everything you need. Walk, and look within." (from the foreword by Paula D'Arcy) (I didn't plan out the spacing. It's purely a result of divine grace that the quote ended up exactly in the center of the labyrinth!)

Visual Journaling Class

2011-03-05T21:56:00.000-06:00

I just finished up a 4 week class with Laura Lein-Svencner that was absolutely delightful. (You can find her blog here.) First of all, it was held in an old Victorian mansion that is being restored by the forest preserve district, which provided lots of beauty and inspiration. And, although the winter weather kept us from going outside to enjoy the grounds, the windows let in plenty of sunshine and lovely views.

In the class, we all brought blank journals and learned lots of techniques for filling them up. Here's a few pictures to give you a flavor of what we all learned together:

Here, Laura uses a rubber stamp she has made out of an art gum eraser to add interest to a page. You can get the erasers at any art store, draw a design on one edge, and cut carefully around it with an exacto knife. You can see a few more of her home-made stamps in the upper corner of the picture:

This page was created by Liz, who was great at using color and symbols to create beautiful pages. (Sorry it's upside down).

This was one of Joan's pages. She used vibrant colors and images, along with text. Can you see where she reinforced her page by stitching a red plastic mesh produce bag to it?

A couple more (sideways, sorry!) pages from classmates. Joan created the one with the graceful stencils. To do this, we cut figures out of magazines and used pastels to outline them. We sprayed them with fixative between coats so they wouldn't smear.

A final (sideways) page from Caroline. She has a great sense of layout and design.

I don't have any pictures of my journal pages, but I'll try to take some and post them soon! Laura is such an amazing instructor. You can practically feel the creative ideas flying around the room!

Inspiration -- Day 3

2011-02-23T13:08:00.000-06:00

More from Julia Cameron, March 19th entry:

Gentleness, enouragement, safety -- these are the watchwords to be put in place for criticism. I have been writing for thirty years. I have seen more good writing destroyed by bad criticism than I have ever seen bad writing helped by good criticism. . . . I have watched plays start to find their feet, only to be tripped up by too many people contributing fixes. . .

I am fortunate to belong to an art community in my area as well as this larger community of art-bloggers. Both of them have provided ample opportunities to give and receive rich encouragement for those artistic endeavors we might be hesitant to share. In light of these words on criticism, I'd like to say "thank you" to my artist friends for input, encouragement and guidance. It's great to be able to share positively in each other's artistic journeys.

Tuesday Inspiration

2011-02-22T13:44:00.000-06:00

Continuing in The Artist's Way Every Day, I came upon this for March 9th:

Art is not linear. Neither is the artist's life, but we forget that. We try to "plan" our life and "plan" our career -- as if we could. We also try to plan our growth. This means transformation catches us by surprise. . . experience teaches that life, and especially life in the arts, is as much about mystery as it is about mastery. . . "Something" is telling us to make art. We must trust that something.

This picture reminds me of this. Yes, I took it because of the cute little squirrel. But the path below is one that we followed all over the cliff. And it was so much better for all its twists and turns and surprising vistas. Linear is nice and predictable, but don't we love the breathtaking "aha" of sudden inspiration?

Inspiration for Today

2011-02-21T11:46:00.000-06:00

I got the book The Artist's Way Every Day by Julia Cameron from the library, so I'm reading more than one entry per day. It's great inspiration in small snippets, so I thought maybe this week I could post some entries that I find inspirational. Today's is from March 5:

Doubt is a signal of the creative process. It is a signal that you are doing something right -- not that you are doing something wrong or crazy or stupid. The sickening chasm of fear that doubt triggers to yawn open beneath you is not a huge abyss into which you are going to tumble, spiraling downward like you are falling through the circles of hell. No, doubt is most often a signal you are doing something and doing it right.

Sitting in the studio with my supplies as companions, it's easy to doubt: "this isn't good enough", "other artists are better than me", "what am I thinking?!?!". It's nice to know that Julia says doubts aren't just normal, they're good.

How about you? What doubts plague you in your creative process?

Signs of Spring

2011-02-18T13:17:00.000-06:00

No pictures today but, just two weeks past the Blizzard of 2011, we are having a lovely thaw. The huge snowbanks have all but disappeared, the geese are flying high overhead in "V" formation, and I've seen several robins in my neighborhood. I know it's too early to hope that this is the real thing, but it's a great respite from winter. And I found a very appropriate quote on another blog to share with you:

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. --Eleonora Duse

I'll let you know when the first tiny flowers appear in the yard!

I've been away

2011-02-07T17:38:00.000-06:00

Last week I was blessed to be able to get away from the dreary Chicago winter and spend a week in a condo on the beach in southern California. I can't even express how soul enriching it was to experience the warm sun and beauty of the ocean every day. And I even missed the Great Chicago Blizzard of 2011. (Although I am living with the effects of it every day now that I'm home.)

Here's a few images to share with my winter weary friends:

Special thanks to my "twin" cousin for suggesting the trip and my family back home for holding down the fort while I was gone.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

2011-01-22T15:43:00.000-06:00

I read these lines by poet Gerard Manley Hopkins earlier this week:
For Christ plays in ten thousand places
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.

It prompted me to go through some magazines I had and create the following collage in my journal

As I was doing it, I realized that I have a much easier time seeing Christ in these faces than in the faces of people who cut me off in traffic, who speak too loudly on cell phones in the grocery store, or who make messes that I have to clean up. Ouch!

Connection over the week-end

2011-01-18T19:54:00.000-06:00

If you have been following my posts, you know that my word for 2011 is "connection". I met with my spiritual director a few days ago and she helped me hone in a little more on what that might look like in my daily life. One aspect is connecting with God even when things aren't going the way I want them to. Looking for God's "fingerprints" in my life, and trying to see how I can bless others in the moment.

I had a chance to practice that over the week-end. I accompanied my husband and several of his family members to visit his sister, who is very ill (terminal). As much as I wanted to support his family, it meant 9 hours in the car in one day, and that on top of my first full week of a new job -- I just wanted to spend time at home. But I went with "connection" on my heart and a desire to watch for God's blessings in unexpected places.

The scenery was actually pretty, and the driving conditions were good. I had a chance to play with some iphone apps and came up with the following pictures:

Between playing with my phone, reading and knitting, it was a relaxing and fun trip. (My husband and his brother were talking over old times, having not seen each other in over 10 years.) I was glad for the opportunity to look for and find evidence of God's presence, even on an arduous car trip.

At his sister's house, things were even better than we imagined. His sister rallied, and got out of bed and seemed to enjoy all the company. I fully expected to be relegated to a hallway while the brothers and sisters went in one or two at a time. She seemed truly blessed to see all of us (even me!) And her son was there with his very nice (understatement!) camera. He showed me some of the bells and whistles and even let me play with it.

Although it was a very long day, and we arrived home exhausted, it was a day of connection! I'm glad I showed up with that mindset. It made a difference.

Squeen for a Day

2011-01-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

I didn't know what I was getting into when I signed up for Carla Sonheim's Art of Silliness Class. I wanted to get freer in my drawing and release more creativity. I think that is happening. Carla is having us do all kinds of crazy things, including inventing a new language! Each day we post our latest creations to a Flickr account and Carla chooses someone to be Squeen for the Day. (Squeen = Silliness Queen). Well today, --ta-da! -- I was chosen. And it's based on this project (playing with food) which took me just about all afternoon yesterday:

Not sure how proud I should be of it, but it was great fun to be chosen Squeen for a Day! Too bad I still had to cook and do dishes. Guess the family didn't get the memo!

I hope you have the chance to feel as special as the Squeen for the Day. Afterall, we are God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), and that sounds pretty wonderful to me.

My Word for 2011

2011-01-01T17:14:00.000-06:00

It's been really inspiring to read about the words that my blogging friends are choosing for their intention words for this new year. Special thanks to Kim Klassen for some great instruction on how to choose a word, as this is the first year I have done this. And the word I have decided on is . . .

Connection

Reading last year's journals revealed to me that I was all about trying new things and launching out in new directions. It was fun, but I wasn't very focused. Instead of making "focus" my intention for this year, I think "connection" better describes what I want to experience. Exploring and strengthening connections I have with friends, family, my own inner gifts, and -- of course -- with God. The Willow Tree figurine pictured here and in my blog masthead is one that a good friend gave me a few years ago. It's been gathering dust in a corner of our family room. I dusted it off and gave it a prominent place in the hallway outside of my studio, as I hope to dust off some of the connections that I have lost track of, but that I know are important to me. And I'm hoping to blog regularly about how these connections are going. I'm also looking forward to reading the blogs from friends who are also pursuing words of intention for 2011.

Happy New Year!

2010-12-30T17:20:00.000-06:00

Now that Christmas is over, I can share one of the big secret projects I was working on. A few posts ago I showed you the pillows I was making for my oldest daughter, Robyn. I also created a lap quilt for her to go with them. I FORGOT to take pictures as I went along, but I have these two of her opening it. Around the outside border, I lettered some of the verses from I Cor. 13 -- the "love chapter" in the Bible. Fortunately I have a book by Lisa Engelbrecht that explains exactly how to letter on fabric. Click here to see/order the book. And it worked beautifully! There are 5 quilt squares that match the ones in her pillows, and 4 pictures that I printed out on special (hopefully) color fast printer fabric. Maybe the next time I stop by her apartment I'll bring my camera and take some close-ups. Anyway, she was thrilled!

Yummy Treats

2010-12-28T19:28:00.000-06:00

There's my latest creation -- in the pan and ready to be chilled, sliced and served. But not for my family -- for the birds outside my window! I found out that our little feathered visitors are extra hungry in the wintertime, so my latest hobby is making "bird dough". This one has shortening, peanut butter, corn meal, chopped peanuts and assorted dried fruits. And a nice layer of bird seed on top.

No wonder my husband refused to eat one of his favorite Christmas treats while it was cooling in the pan: almond bark with pistachios and cranberries (see below after it has cooled and been broken up). He was afraid it, too, was for the birds. I guess I see how he could be fooled!

And below is a little junco visiting one of our feeders during a snow storm.

Christmas-is-over-can-I-get-my-life-back-please?

2010-12-27T22:13:00.000-06:00

I like Christmas. A. Lot. But I was pretty physically and emotionally exhausted by the time the 26th rolled around. And that was the 4th Sunday of the month, which meant that I had "art team" at church. Which is a very cool thing except that it involves getting up extra early to go to church, and you have to have some creative energy. So the rest of the day I hardly moved from the couch, and I took a nap today as well.

So today I actually felt like doing a little creative play that wasn't Christmas card or gift related. I started by taking a picture of the sun setting through the bare trees out my front window:

I know it looks like the moon but it was quite shrouded by the clouds. I decided to try to add a layer, and I remembered a picture I took earlier this winter -- a close up of some ice crystals on a river:

I added a dark frame, a little gaussian blur and played with the layer effects. This is the version I like best:

It's fun to play. And I love perusing all the blogs I follow -- so much creativity to inspire! I'm so glad for the blog community and the sharing that goes on! Here's to more play in 2011!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T18:59:00.000-06:00

May the simple gifts of Christmas be yours in abundance!

Waves on Lake Michigan

2010-12-15T21:43:00.000-06:00

I have to admit that the better photos on this blog were not taken by me, but by my son on his iPhone camera. We were driving along Lake Shore Drive on Monday and noticed that the waves were ridiculously wild. We couldn't resist pulling into a parking lot (which cost us $8.00 -- a bargain in Chicago!) and taking some pics. The above one he submitted to our local tv station and it was picked as one of the weather photos of the day and shown during the evening news. He just happened to capture two waves as they smacked together and created quite a display.

And below, look at the great composition in that shot:

You can see the icycles were sideways from the blowing frigid air:

Lastly is my picture of Jordan, the master photographer with his iPhone:

The wind chill was below zero and it took a very long time to warm up, but what a great adventure!

Playing in the snow

2010-12-06T10:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday our family decided to enjoy a somewhat mild winter day by going to Waterfall Glen, a forest preserve not too far from our house. After trudging through the snow all afternoon, we came back to our house and feasted on pizza while we decorated our Christmas tree. I was too tired to get any tree pics, but maybe another time!

Lovely daughters staying warm in the late afternoon sunshine.

Even Skyler was able to come with us and get a workout running through the woods.

The sun set pretty fast and we had to move along.

Our son reflected in the frigid water.

Happy winter!

Christmas spirit

2010-12-03T14:27:00.000-06:00

I just watched this and it gave me chills! How fun to have been there!

Click here for an uplifting Christmas surprise!

More Pillows!

2010-12-01T11:43:00.000-06:00

I have to give equal time to our daughters, and I made pillows earlier this season for our youngest. So Robyn helped me choose fabric for some pillows for a window seat in her new apartment. They aren't exactly a surprise, but they are for Christmas, so I'm going to try to make a lap quilt to go with them.

The ones that are diagonal are paper-pieced, which is a lot of fun to do. But now I must get back to my sewing machine. So many ideas -- so little time before Christmas!
Blessings to you on this Advent season!

2010-11-19T12:01:00.000-06:00

I read these verses this morning and wanted to do something to impress them even more deeply on my soul. I get way too wrapped up in the puny little details of my life and forget that there is a much bigger picture. I especially love the reminder that on the inside (of each of us), "not a day goes by without God's unfolding grace". May you experience that grace today and every day!

Depth of Field

2010-11-18T21:26:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I was reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit, which I had requested from the library. It was one of the few books that, when I had to return it, I bought my own copy. And began to read it again, marking it up with my own notes and observations. Chapter 3 is called "Your Creative DNA", and Tharp talks about paying attention to the ways that we creatively see the world. She mentions focal length, like that of a camera lens. We can either focus best on the big picture -- landscapes and big, sweeping scenes, or small details.

It didn't take much thought to realize that I like to zero in on the small details. Like the photo above. I'm taking an online class with Barb Phillips on how to do more than just point and shoot with my digital camera. It's called Photo Basics Online Photography Course (click on it for more information). I'm finally learning what all those settings on my camera mean, and what things like "aperature", "ISO" and "shutter speed" are all about. And I got to play with depth of field, like in the picture above.
I wonder if our creative DNA has anything to do with how we generally respond to life. My husband likes to look at the big picture -- "Let's make a master plan, create a budget and plan accordingly." I tend to focus on one part of the picture -- "Oh, look -- a sale on carpeting. Let's redo the bedroom!" Well, maybe I'm not that bad, but it's something to notice.

How about you? Are you a "big picture" person, or do you like to hone in on the details?

A Walk with my Camera

2010-11-09T22:58:00.000-06:00

It was so beautiful today that I just couldn't stay inside. So I took my camera (and dog) and headed out to find beautiful things. It wasn't hard. These back-lit leaves really glow. This pic is not manipulated in any way.

The milkweed was ready to fly. When I was little, we would catch the little seeds and make wishes on them.

And dear Skyler had a wonderful time pouncing on critters and terrorizing the geese at the lake. I missed a great picture of him bounding into the water and the geese scattering. I guess I was too busy with the milkweed.

If you are in the Chicago area, I hope you are enjoying the weather this week. We all know what is going to follow shortly!

Autumn Fun

2010-10-24T18:00:00.000-06:00

Every year our family goes to a corn maze in October. We've gone to the same place almost every year for the past 6 or 7 years. You can check it out here: http://www.kellersfarmstand.com/index.aspx

So today was the day, we had teams of two, Don and me vs. our kids and their boy/girlfriends. All week they predicted rain for today, but we only had two brief showers that didn't dampen anyone's spirits. Here's the energetic group before we entered the maze:

Don and I (the old folks!) always come in last, but not today. We thought we were first, because when we finished, none of the other teams were waiting. But it turns out that Jordan and Nicole (far left) finished it in record time, and went back in to get some of the bonus checkpoints. They actually made second place on the record board posted in the barn! And we came in second! Not bad for the oldsters of the group.

Then we found our perfect pumpkins in the pumpkin patch before coming home for stuffed pizza! A great day!

Happy fall, everyone!

The Gift

2010-10-23T19:17:00.000-06:00

The surprise party was today (he was surprised -- yay!) And I had a surprise this morning. Apparently the birthday boy's son (who helped me get the pics) nonchalantly asked his dad this morning what color he planned on painting his Model A when he was done with it. "Maybe green?" he asked. His dad shook his head and said, "Oh, no. Not greeen!" And I got the word a couple of hours later. He thought a blue-grey would be nice, but this is the best I could do on such short notice:

And this was the front of his card. The inside says, "That's one reason you are so special"

He liked it! It was worth all the scrambling!

Gift for a friend

2010-10-18T20:45:00.000-06:00

A family friend of ours is celebrating a birthday and we are invited to his party. (Shhhhh -- it's a surprise!) He has a Model A that is his pride and joy -- I don't know how long he has been restoring it, but it actually runs and everything. His son helped me take some pics of it secretly, since I thought he would enjoy receiving a nicely framed photo of it. His son told me that his dad wants to paint it a forest green color when he is finished restoring it. So I played a little with Photoshop and came up with a couple of possible photographs. Please tell me which one you like best!

Here's the car without any help from photoshop:

And here's one after I played with it:

I kind of like the old feel that the black and white background give it. But my daughter thought the green leaves set off the color better, and I liked this shot of the car a little better, so I tried this one.

I can keep on playing for a few more days. Please let me know what you think! Thanks!

New Ventures

2010-09-27T21:05:00.000-06:00

Last week I heard about a juried photography exhibition taking place in October. Submissions were due today. I've never taken part in a juried show before, and I wasn't going to enter at first. There was a $20 entry fee for 2 pieces, and I wasn't confident enough to try. But my family convinced me, so I dropped off my pieces tonight. Below are the raw photos -- they look a little better framed and matted. I'll find out by Friday if they have been accepted, and then next Thursday the show opens. So that means I have 3 calligraphy pieces at the local library in an open show and these two potentially at another show. Wow -- I feel like a real artist!

I titled the above piece "Waiting". While in Rome two years ago, we were staying in an apartment on the 5th floor. This woman was on the 4th floor across the street, and I happened to catch her in a very pensive pose. (There are NO window screens in Rome! It makes for easier picture taking.)

This one is called "Summer's Over". I had a chance to play with some Photoshop filters to get that effect. I hope they make it into the show.

New Piece

2010-09-23T09:36:00.000-06:00

Each October our library hosts a community art exhibit, and each resident/artist may show up to 3 pieces. I was pleased to see that I had created two new pieces this year that I liked enough to exhibit, but I wanted to do another. Sunday's sermon was the inspiration for this piece:

Our pastor was talking about the power of God's word in our lives and how important it is to take advantage of that source. I know several individuals who are struggling with feeling really defeated lately, so the sermon inspired me to create this piece. I know it helps me remember where I can go for power and strength.

The exhibit will be up during the month of October. If you are in Woodridge, IL, feel free to stop by the library and see this and other pieces by talented artists in our community!

THIEF!

2010-09-18T15:00:00.000-06:00

Look at the nerve of this little guy! This is the first time all summer that he's tried this -- he's usually content to sit on the ground and clean up after the birds have dropped their little bits and pieces.

He's quite the gymnast. And he didn't move a muscle when I opened the window and yelled at him. So I did the next best thing -- I got my camera. And THEN I let the dog out, and did Mr. Squirrel ever scramble in a big hurry. Maybe he won't be quite as bold next time!

Mining the past

2010-09-16T11:29:00.000-06:00

One of my fellow bloggers (I think Laura from Lone Crow Art) mentioned that she was reading a book by Twyla Tharp, called The Creative Habit. I immediately ordered it from the library, and I think I might buy my own copy - it's that good. She shares a lot about her own creative journey (if you don't know -- she's a world-reknowned dance choreographer.) And her book contains creativity challenges that are unlike anything I've done before. The one I did yesterday was called "Mining for Memory in a Photograph". She shares a photograph of herself when she was 3 or 4 years old, and then tells all that she learned about herself just from studying the photo and letting things spring to mind. I was very surprised to read all that she learned about herself from her picture, and even moreso when I did the exercise. Here's my pic:

It was the first one I came across in the drawer, so I tried it. The first thing I noticed is that you could probably crop me out of the photo and still have a fairly decent picture of my parents. Yet, there is no mistaking that I belong there -- smack dab in the center. I wasn't going to let anyone leave me out. And that has been my M.O. for my whole life. If there was something I wanted to be a part of, no matter how improbable, I pushed for it. And usually succeeded.

Another key thing in this picture is the way my mom is holding my hand. See how her hand is in front of mine -- almost pulling me forward in order to let me know that I could succeed. Yet I also sense her holding me back a bit, as if saying, "don't try to conquer the world all at once." That represents an emotional dance that she and I participated in until her death in 2003. And I still carry that on inside me with new things -- wanting to push forward, yet having to deal with that internal voice telling me not to rush to try to do it all at once.

Try this exercise, and see if you mine some nuggets that teach you about your creative journey!

New Project

2010-09-09T19:25:00.000-06:00

Transitioning from summer to fall is, for me, a bit like turning a big ship around. I seem to have trouble getting moving on anything creative for a few weeks. But I think I'm feeling motivated again. I've been spending time at my sewing machine.

Our youngest daughter headed off for her sophomore year of college, and she now has a small apartment on campus. We bought her a black futon/couch for her living area. To add some color, she asked me if she could take a very colorful lap quilt I made a few years ago. I wish I had pictures of it to show you, but I did manage to find some strips of fabric that I had used for it. So I sewed them into a couple of pillows, and I'll put them in the mail to her tomorrow. I think she'll love them! Here they are:

I made them as pillow covers, so they can be washed. I found these sweet buttons in my button jar, and I think they make the back opening look really cute!

I feel very accomplished! I didn't have to buy anything for this project -- I even had the pillow forms in the house. And I can't wait to send them off.

Watercolor Class Wrap-Up

2010-08-28T15:13:00.000-06:00

This morning we had our "Experimental Watermedia Techniques" wrap-up class at the Arboretum. We all brought the pieces we've been working on since we created backgrounds a couple of weeks ago in class. Above is my whimsical piece. The technique was dipping cheesecloth in watercolors and then placing it on the paper to dry and create a textured background. But as mine was drying, I kept thinking of a fishnet. So I glued the cheesecloth to the paper, drew some little fish, and this is the result.

Below are a couple of backgrounds that I decided to try to calligraphy on. With the rough (coldpress) watercolor paper, I'm not really pleased about my letterforms. But I like the quotes.

And finally, this was the hardest piece to work on. We put fresh leaves down on wet presentation board (I think that's what it's called), and then generously dabbed watercolors all over. We put plastic wrap over the whole thing, smooshed it around a bit for effect, and let it dry. After peeling off the plastic wrap and leaves and letting the paint dry thoroughly, it was up to us to decide how to finish. I decided to use opaque white paint to highlight the areas around the three main leaves. I don't think it's done yet, but this is as far as I got with it so far.

There were lots of other very creative pieces by my classmates as well. What a fun class!

Words of Wisdom

2010-08-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

For some reason, August is usually a difficult month for me. I don't like saying goodbye to summer with its long, leisurely days and wonderful growing things. I read this a few days ago, and it helped alot. It's from Caussade in his Sacrament of the Present Moment:

There is not a moment in which God does not present Godself under the cover of some pain to be endured, of some consolation to be enjoyed, or of some duty to be performed. All that takes place within us, around us, or through us contains and conceals God's divine action. It is really and truly there present, but invisbly present, so that we are always surprised and do not recognize God's operation until it has ceased. If we could lift the veil, and if we were attentive and watchful God would continually reveal Godself to us, and we should see God's divine action in everything that happened to us, and rejoice in it. At each successive occurence we should exclaim: "It is the Lord," and we should accept every fresh circumstance as a gift from God.

And here are a few pictures from a beautiful day at the Chicago Botanic Gardens:

Watercolor class piece 1

2010-08-17T10:08:00.000-06:00

We have two weeks to create some pieces from the backgrounds we made at our Watercolor class last week-end. I started this tiny piece by wetting the paper (140 lb cold press watercolor), setting three small shells on top, adding some sand-colored watercolor, and sprinkling it with table salt, to try to get a sandy effect. When it was dry, I spritzed the blue on with a toothbrush. There were white blobs where the shells had been, so I added to shell texture with colored pencils, then added the text around the edges. I had to really squeeze to get it all to fit!

Catching up

2010-08-15T20:32:00.000-06:00

Oh my -- it feels like I've been out of the blog loop forever! First there was our mini-vacation to Galena, Illinois. Three days of relaxation, shopping, and doing as little as possible. Here's a couple of pics from our time. First, a vineyard where we did some wine tasting. It overlooked a lovely valley:

This is one of the B&B's we stayed at. We had a private hot tub -- in the cupula on the top of the house. Really fun!

This was one wall of the dining room of another of the B&B's. Most of the clocks kept the correct time!

Following our trip, we hosted several family members who took Amtrak all the way from Sacramento, CA to Chicago. The kids had never been to Chicago before, and they really had a great time. They visited Millenium Park and the "Bean":

And the Museum of Science and Industry has a lot of great interactive exhibits. This is a screen with computer-generated butterflies that will land on you if you hold still:

And then I was at a class playing with watercolors for the past two days. Here's an unfinished piece that I think I'm going to like. I didn't get a picture of it with the leaves off, but we peeled them off, and the next step is to manipulate the paint so you get a nice composition. Mine has really nice colors, but doesn't look like anything yet. I'll post pics when I get it finished (we have another class in two weeks where we do "show and tell") and I'll tell more about the process.

Criticism vs. Encouragement

2010-07-25T20:04:00.000-06:00

I admit it -- I watch a fair amount of reality tv -- "So You Think You Can Dance" is my favorite. But I also discovered one of Bravo network called "Work of Art". In case you haven't seen it, about a dozen different artists from very different backgrounds and with varied amounts of experience are given artistic challenges each week. They usually have a day or two to complete the challenge, and then reveal what they have done at an art show. The public is invited, as are several distinguished judges. The best works are highly praised, the worst ones are critiqued, and the artist with the worst piece has to go home.

This past week, they were to go back to their childhood roots, and work with only those materials that were to be found at a children's art museum workroom. With only a few hours to work on their pieces, they were all buzzing along, when Simone entered the room. Simone is a European art "guru" who has a cool accent and everyone hangs on his every word. He went around to the various artists -- two of the artists got high praise from him, and three got some pretty disparaging remarks. The two with the good comments worked even harder, and the three with the negative comments all abandoned their projects and started something new. You could see the doubt and confusion on their faces. Flash ahead to the art show. Guess which two artists had the highest marks on their pieces? Guess who was in the bottom three -- with pieces that lacked direction, didn't say anything, looked boring?

It reminds me of one of my favorite college classes -- Foundations of Education. Even non-education majors took it because it was such a great class. One class period, the prof sent two groups of students out of the room. While the rest of us watched, he dumped a big bunch of tinkertoys on the floor and ushered the first group in. "You can build anything you want!" he enthused. But every time one of them began something, our prof questioned them, criticized them, or just made them feel like their ideas were not good. They ended up with three tiny structures. Then he brought the second group in with the same instructions. Only this time he said things like, "You guys are so talented! Wow -- great ideas! Keep it up!" And they built a huge tower with moving parts and everything.

It makes me wonder what the projects would have looked like if Simone had told everyone that they were doing a great job and keep on working. More importantly, what are the messages about my art that I tell myself? What messages are you hearing?

You can do it! You are creative and unique! Keep up the good work!

Day Trip to Oak Park

2010-07-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

I was in Oak Park the other day and had a couple of hours of free time. Oak Park has an arts district that has developed in the last few years. (Harrison Street, just north of the Eisenhower off of Austin Avenue.) It's hard to believe that, until 15 years ago, we lived only 1/2 block from this artistic playground! Above is a close-up of an inset in a door in the neighborhood.

Below are a couple of pictures taken inside the Buzz Cafe -- a very fun and eclectic place to cool off on a hot day with a glass of iced tea!

They must have had a fun painting party when they decorated the chairs. (And I love the way they levelled the table with a folded newspaper!)
Then I went into a thrift store, where they had a whole wall of color-specific shelves:

And I also hung out at the park and tried to get some fun shots:

It's a good thing I brought my camera with me. It was a blast taking these pics!

Poor Man's Garden Fountain (for the birds)

2010-07-13T20:35:00.000-06:00

Recently I heard that birds really like water that is running or at least dripping. While I would LOVE a real garden fountain, it's not something I have the time or money to research right now. But I also heard about this clever idea: freeze water in a container, and then hang the container above a bird bath so that as the ice melts, it will drip into the water at a steady pace. I hung the gallon milk jug that was about half filled with solid ice at 9 this morning. At 4:30 it was still dripping, and the birds seemed to be enjoying getting drinks from it. (I had pounded about 5 or 6 holes with a hammer and nail into the bottom). The only problem now is how to refill the jug to freeze more water -- there are holes in the bottom!

The tiny native plants that I put in earlier this season are growing like crazy. Take a look at those cheery black-eyed susans!

Finally, this is a collage I created for the online class I'm taking. It's hard to see here -- I need to photograph it in daylight. But it's made with all found or scavenged items -- a raspberry container from the farmer's market (stained with the berry juice), some little twige and bark, bottle rocket sticks from the 4th, and a bottle cap and foil wrapper from different bottles. Maybe I can post a better pic tomorrow.

Painting with fruit and leaves

2010-07-09T13:10:00.000-06:00

I'm taking an online Experimental Art Class with Amelia Critchlow, and one of the exercises is to use household items to use as paints and stains. As I was putting the berries on my cereal this morning, I wondered what kinds of marks the fruit would make. The bright pink was made by raspberries, and you can see the dark spots where the seeds stuck. Blueberries didn't do much, so I searched the fridge and found sweet cherries. The lovely little violet colored flowers with the yellow centers are the result of using the cherries. (The yellow is Sharpie Marker -- along with raspberry colored pencil lines, the only non-organic media I used) To make the leaves, I headed out to my herb garden, where the mint grows in cheerful profusion. I had to experiment, but the best way to make a leaf print is to put the leaf with the underside (vein side) down on the paper. I then covered it with an index card and burnished it with the back of a wooden spoon. Voila! Leaf prints!

The only thing I don't like is the big blobby thing in the lower left hand corner. The more I messed with it, the worse it looked. But I learned what I don't want to do in the future! Here's a close-up of the part I do like:

Fun find and new journal page

2010-07-08T19:11:00.000-06:00

Today I drove out to visit my friend Amy who, along with her sister Cindy, owns a lovely "Green Boutique & Book Exchange" called Eclectique. I've been wanting to see the shop for quite awhile, but it's in Plano, IL which is a bit of a drive for me. But today the wanderlust hit, and I made the trek. It was very worthwhile. I've been in plenty of used book stores in my life, and none were quite as inviting as this one. The books were tastefully displayed, and not shoved in everywhere. There were lots of vintage items (such as the little bird pick I found) as well as homemade items by local craftswomen. All in a lovely little shop with little places to perch and delightful things to peruse. Just in case you're ever in Plano, it's at 300 East Main Street, open Tuesday through Saturday afternoons.

And here is my latest backyard journal page. It seems everything is coming up in shades of yellow -- one of my favorite colors. I had fun playing with a grid type page. I think it was easier to be creative and add some interesting elements.

Guess what? I was in Hobby Lobby this afternoon and they were putting up their Christmas display! NOOOOO! I'm not ready! Hope you are enjoying this season of growth and beauty!

Happy Fourth America!

2010-07-04T12:36:00.000-06:00

One of the best parts of summer are all the festivals with concerts, carnival rides, booths and booths of junk food (just about anything can be friend and put on a stick these days!) craft fairs, fireworks and people watching. On Friday night we checked out Lisle's Eyes to the Skies Festival with a beautiful hot air balloon area. We heard a couple of bands, watched fireworks at the end of the evening and had a magnificent time!
There were some interesting people there -- like the guy below (those are peace signs on his glasses):

And I was a bit surprised to see people flocking to pay their $2 a person to go inside this tent and see the most unusual thing in the world:

I think they look a little puzzled. Perhaps they are thinking, "We could have saved our money and bought another funnel cake instead". :0)

Happy Independence Day, America! And enjoy this fun season!

More Birds!

2010-06-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

I guess I musst have birds on the mind, because most of my projects lately have featured them. I'm taking an online class on Experimental Art (see button at the right). It's a lot of fun, and the projects are intended to help us open up to be more creative and playful in our art. Above is a project where we were to play with tracing images. Since I've been (unsuccessfully) trying to draw birds in my backyard journal, I thought it would be fun to trace some birds just to get to know the basic shapes. Then I transferred the images onto some old road maps, cut them out and collaged them.

This second piece started out with me just playing in my sketch book -- looking through books with pictures of birds and trying to draw them. Then I added some collaged images from magazines, colored in and collaged the birds, and added some acrylic paint. I think it would be fun to cut these out and use them in another piece, but for now I just want to enjoy this page.

A New (Bird) House!

2010-06-28T14:48:00.000-06:00

Saturday there was a Gardener's Art Festival at The Growing Place, a wonderful garden center in Naperville. I first heard about it Saturday morning, and wasn't sure it would be worth my time. The air conditioned house was a tempting place to stay, but summer is all about hot weather and new adventures. I'm so glad I went! I heard two very entertaining speakers talk about attracting birds and the evolution of a backyard garden. Not only was it interesting, I learned a few things too!

I also had time to check out the artists' booths. There were some really lovely things, but I was especially drawn to the booth where I bought the above little bird house. Bob Knisley is from central Illinois, and he and his wife were sitting, surrounded by variations of houses like this. Some were much more elaborate, but I chose a simple (read -- cheap!) one. When his father's old barn fell down, Bob decided to re-purpose the wood -- with the original paint -- into lovely birdhouses. What a great idea, and I couldn't resist bringing one home to grace our little bird sanctuary. It will be interesting to see if any birds use it this season -- I think it might be a little late. In case you want to contact Bob about his bird houses, his e-mail is Knisley4@hotmail.com.

Speaking of hot weather . . . it's off to the pool!

My Studio (and my "room-mates")

2010-06-23T15:33:00.000-06:00

I know that several bloggers took people on tours of their studios over the week-end, and I need to find a link to tour some more for inspiration. Because this is my studio right now. You can see I've been playing with paint samples on the wall. It was my son's room until he moved out two years ago. Unfortunately, he still has a few things in the room:

Those are snake cages. There's a "2-flat" for the two bigger boa constrictors on the right, and then a bunch of "condos" for the pythons on the left. I've been sharing my studio with them for the past year while my son does some renovation on his house prior to moving them.

But I'm tired of sharing my space and I'm ready to evict them! Paint and plaster dust notwithstanding, he needs to take them with him! Especially now that I'm all inspired by seeing those great studios. Don't worry, they are harmless and they never escape. He comes and feeds them and cleans the cages. But I already put most of my supplies in storage boxes (and back to the dining room table for my workspace - ugh!). If you know anyone who loves snakes, I'll sell 'em -- cheap!

Butterfly Chair

2010-06-17T17:57:00.000-06:00

We have an adirondack chair in the far back yard. It gets sunshine while the rest of the yard is shaded by the house. For the past two evenings, butterflies have been landing on it and stretching out their wings. This little guy was the bravest of them, and posed for me for quite awhile so I could get his picture. I guess I need to add him to my backyard journal.

Raining Again!

2010-06-14T12:30:00.000-06:00

We have had more than our share of rain this season. I can't even use the water in my rain barrel -- everything is saturated all the time. So this morning I went out to work in the garden, and after about 5 minutes it started raining again. This is what I picked so far:

Sugar snap peas (the first of the seaons - yay!), and the end of the lettuce and radishes. I wanted to get all the lettuce and radishes pulled so I can plant some beans, but I really didn't want to be completely wet and muddy. Maybe tomorrow.

Here's a page from my back-yard journal. I did manage to squeeze a couple of drawing sessions in between the showers. I'm taking an "Experimental Art Course" online -- it starts today. (See the box in the right margin). I'm hoping it helps me become braver about putting marks down in my journal! Right now I'm still concerned about everything looking just perfect. I need some freedom, and hopefully the class will help me.

Wasting time

2010-06-09T10:14:00.000-06:00

Lately it feels like I'm spinning my wheels, attempting a lot of projects, but not really finishing anything. Then I end up at the computer playing mindless solitaire games, and feeling frustrated with the whole process. Last night I closed the solitaire program (I was losing anyway), and open Photoshop Elements. I took this picture of a little bird earlier this week (not sure what kind it is, but he posed nicely) and used a background from some decorated paper I made a couple of months ago. (Thanks to Lenore at Eat Write Create for the idea of using decorated paper as a background). It was fun to dabble and come up with something I actually liked. It just shows that we don't need tons of time or creative energy to create a bit of beauty.

Birding -- Day 2 (and 3!)

2010-06-06T15:46:00.000-06:00

Here's our group of birders at the Arboretum yesterday -- that's before the heavens opened and we had to dash for shelter. Someone had just spotted a Baltimore Oriole's nest and we were all trying to catch a glimpse of it. We also came upon a Great Blue Heron, who decided to ignore us and go on fishing. It was a little dark where he was, but the picture turned out OK. He hardly looks real -- he almost glows. But he was very real! When it began to rain, we all wanted to stay out. But then it thundered and we had to head back. Except for the robins, most of the birds had found shelter from the rain as well. (Speaking of robins, it's a very good thing I took the picture I did on Friday. The babies were gone from the nest just a few hours later. Now maybe Momma Robin can get a little rest!)

I've tried thinking of comparisons between the two birding experiences. I think I learned more at the Arboretum. Our guide there wasn't a naturalist. She went through the ornithology program at the Arboretum, so she really knew a lot about birds. But she also seemed to understand what those of us who were new to birding wanted to learn -- what the various calls sound like: she would periodically stop us just to listen and observe. She also pointed out flying patterns of the various species, so it was easier to tell them in mid-flight. The naturalist at the forest preserve was really nice and friendly, but he kind of assumed that everyone there knew what he was talking about. And it was a bigger group, so I didn't feel like asking a lot of questions.

But the big birding adventure happened this afternoon. Our son, Jordan, spotted an eagle's nest while he was driving up to work last week. So we went to get a look at it this afternoon. There were at least two eaglets that appeared, stretched their wings and settled back into the nest. It was breathtaking to observe through the binoculars. It's the first time I remember seeing a bald eagle in the wild!

Birding -- Day 1

2010-06-04T18:51:00.000-06:00

This morning was the bird hike at the forest preserve. There were almost 20 of us, which made it a bit hard to hear what the naturalist was saying, and we made quite a bit of noise, so the birds definitely knew we were coming. But I did see a Baltimore Oriole going back and forth to its nest, and I can now identify an Indigo Bunting. All in all, we saw about 11 species of birds, most of which I could already identify. But still, not bad. I was trying to juggle between my camera and binoculars, which quickly became impossible, so I ditched the camera. But here's a picture Don took the last time we were at the Aboretum of a Baltimore Oriole perching atop its nest. It's a great picture -- wish I could take credit for it!

I did want to get one picture of birds this morning, so when I arrived back home I went to the back yard and took this picture of the baby robins who can just barely fit into their nest. Momma Robin is still making trip after trip to feed the little guys. They'll be leaving the nest soon.

So this report was especially for Linda. I do recommend taking a birding hike with someone who knows what they're talking about. And I'll blog about tomorrow's birding adventure at the Arboretum if there's anything interesting.

Prairie Smoke

2010-06-03T11:29:00.000-06:00

At the Arboretum again, and the Prairie Smoke was in full bloom -- these lovely, wispy, cotton-candy-like tendrils softening the landscape. I have some that I put in my back-yard garden, but it's not blooming like that. Maybe next year, if I take very good care of it.

And this little guy was nearby -- he could fly, but the way he was squawking, he was obviously waiting for mom to come and take care of him. I'm enjoying the birds so much, I've signed up for two bird-watching walks in the next two days. I bought some binoculars, and I hope it's not pouring rain on either day.

Art piece for church

2010-05-30T16:42:00.000-06:00

It was Trinity Sunday today (in the Lutheran tradition at least) and I knew we were going to have stations for each person of the Trinity at church this morning. I was reading in Romans 8 earlier in the week, and read this familiar passage about the Holy Spirit. After playing around with it for a few days, this is what I came up with yesterday and brought to church today. It's on a piece of canvas that's 24 inches tall, so I was working large. Our church welcomes artistic expressions, and it's great to be able to contribute every now and then.

Below is our "Father" station. No art work -- we (on the Art Team) were talking about how a burning bush would be appropriate, but settled for a bible opened to a Psalm about God's greatness. We can't have fire (not even candles :-( ) in our worship space, since we meet in a movie theater and the owner is strict about that. (Notice the movie themed carpet in the pic below!) BTW, our church web site is http://www.sanctuary1010.org/ if you want to check it out.

Garden News

2010-05-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

I had to take a picture of my "Cheddar Pink" dianthus blossoms. I sketched them in my journal last night, but forgot to take a picture of my sketch. Can you see the two little curled parts (stamen??). These are just the most delicate beautiful little blossoms. Since I've been nature journaling about the plants and animals in my yard, I've seen things that I've missed for years. Sitting in my yard with my journal can be a worship experience when I stop to realize how incredible God's handiwork is!

And the big news in the backyard is that the baby robins have hatched! I got so excited when I heard them, that I tried standing in my chair to get a good picture of them. But mamma (pictured above) had a few choice words for me! And her babies must have gotten the message 'cuz they hunkered down in the nest, and I didn't get a picture.

Great Class

2010-05-23T20:10:00.000-06:00

This week-end I was able to attend an exciting workshop on using images with our lettering to create interesting works of art. Our instructor was Annie Cicale, and if you can take a workshop with her, do! Yesterday we all worked on apples -- doing studies with various media and then choosing a quote to add to one of our drawings. You can see from the above picture that we did a lot of drawings of those apples! My finished piece is just below all the apples. You can see it on the right, displayed with the work of some of the other artists in the class. Several of us chose the same quote to work on. One of the best parts about workshops like this is seeing all the different approaches we all used -- we had a classful of creative and bold artists.

On the left is what I created the second day. We each brought something to draw, and a quote about it. This is a poem by Shel Silverstein. I'm going to include a copy of this in my backyard journal. I had the cutest little potted sunflower as my object, and it made me smile just to have it on my desk.

Nature Journal Page

2010-05-20T17:52:00.000-06:00

This is a two page spread from my back-yard nature journal. Pretend the two pages are connected, instead of separate -- and one day I'll figure out posting pics in Blogger! This is in my handmade coptic journal, and the paper I used isn't thick enough to put a lot of writing on each side. So I tried to do some collage on the left page. I think it detracts from the right side, which is really the artistic part. It's a work in progress! And, since I am too, that's OK. :-)

Final Arboretum Class

2010-05-16T20:15:00.000-06:00

Our last class at the Arboretum was yesterday, and most of us were able to be there. Here we are showing off our books. I'm in the front, next to one of our teachers, the one who did such an excellent job of teaching us how to put our journals together. We all agreed that we were going to miss that class!

And the picture at left (and I still can't figure out how to rotate them, or why in the world Blogger decides to rotate them in the first place when it imports some of my pictures! AACK!) are some pieces done by one of the gifted artists in my class. (In the blue sweater in the picture above.) She was able to take everything that we did and go a step beyond with it to make it even more beautiful. It's so inspiring being with such talented artists and kindred spirits.

Coptic Journal

2010-05-12T12:59:00.000-06:00

Here's the journal I made at my class at the Arboretum. I decided it would be where I record all the new things happening in our backyard. And some in the front yard -- but the focus is definitely in the back. (I also have a journal about my vegetable gardening this year -- but that's much smaller, more artsy and less informational.

Here's my title page. I want to find a poem or quote about backyards to put on the opposite page.

And here's my latest entry. Between putting in plants and trying to create this journal, it's pretty much a full time job. But a very fun and rewarding one so far. Now if everything I bought will just stay alive . . .