Fall According to the Dogs

According to my calendar, fall is officially here in the Sierra foothills--I finally had to put on socks to warm my feet in bed. A light quilt is still all I need for now, but when its time to bring out the heavy winter quilt, I get the signal from the dogs. The colder it gets, the closer they push, pinning me in one position so that I can’t turn over without causing a major shuffle of 10, sometimes 14 legs (and my two arms). So with the signal of winter according to the dogs and the “laying on” of the heavy quilt, they share more of “their” bed with me.



Well my lone maple tree is turning the most beautiful colors and will soon start dropping its leaves in earnest and for a short time the ground underneath will be covered in a sea of gold. Until then, every time I crest our road, I’m greeted with its glowing colors over the roof of our house. The oaks are also slowly dropping their leaves and every once in a while I hear a reminder of “fall”-- when an acorn goes ping on my car parked underneath.



I cut the last bunch of my roses and brought them inside for a last blast of summer. I’m going to cut some hips on another rose bush to add to a project I’m working on. I’ve been in an artistic slump. Just been trying (and not very successfully) to finish a few things that have been hanging around. I did do a few Halloween tags that sold on my etsy, and a few other misc. Halloween related stuff. I think it’s too late to list them, so I’ll just hold them for next year, makes me that much farther ahead, right?

Feelin' Witchy

I’m usually never on time with making holiday decorations/crafts, but this time I’ve actually already made a few Halloween items to sell in my etsy store. I usually start too late and then the items end up in a box in storage for next year, but then I forget I have them and … Such is the cycle of my life, “a day late and a dollar short” as my Dad always says.

I’ve been on a kick making tags, which I’ve never really done to any extent before. Below is one that I made from a photo I have. OMG are they a homely couple, such a sourpuss face on the older one. They are not related to me (bought on ebay)!!



Seems like when I get an idea in my head I have to search all over to find the elements I'm looking for. Take for instance the crow tags below. I knew I wanted crows, but I only had one pic of a crow.
I wanted to use several different views, so I had to search all through my books to find images, then I had to scan them, then print them (finding I'm almost out of black printer ink in the mean time!). Is it that way for you? Do you find your elements first and then put the idea together? It just seems that I spend alot of time looking for just the right element to add. Am I too picky? Just seems like it takes me so long to get something done. Even when the ideas are flowing, it just seems that a simple project like a few tags takes me several days to complete. And it never fails, right when I'm in the "zone", I get interrupted! Kids to pick up from school, dogs need to be let out, dogs to be let in (most of my day is spent doing this). ARGH!



This is a small painting (5x7) I just finished. I haven’t done any real painting since high school many, many years ago, lol! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I’ve never been good at drawing people that look real. But I’ve never tried to draw a figure that has a primitive look that seems so popular. Since this was my first attempt I didn’t want to waste one of my canvases so I used 140 lb cold press watercolor paper. I painted gesso on first, and then when almost dry, I set it under a heavy book to get it to lay flat. It worked pretty well with the acrylic paints, but did want to curl some, so I pressed it flat overnight a few times. I put it in a thrifted frame that was already painted a dark brown (looks almost black) and I’m keeping it for now, he he.





I think I might have a few more Halloween ideas somewhere in my mind, so back to the crafting table!

Ok, Enough of the Kids, Already!

To continue the “maternal” theme of late, I just finished this piece, called appropriately "maternal love". Its one of the largest so far at 8 x 10 inches. My camera broke recently so I'm forced to scan everything, so can't show how nice this looks hanging by the ribbon. Its listed in my etsy store, check it out.


I guess I’m pretty lucky; I’ve got some great kids. They are healthy, well adjusted, compassionate, and generally well-behaved (maybe that’s because of the daily cattle-prod, whether they need it or not!) Just kidding of course. For the most part I don’t have to do much in the way of discipline (to my two youngest still at home). My middle child, just turned 16 and she’s awesome in school and I don’t even have to nag her about it, go figure? Just have to rein in her mouth sometimes when it goes a little too far. I’m sure no one knows how that is with a teen, right?

My oldest daughter lives with her boyfriend and my 18 mo. old granddaughter. We had some tough times during her 16-18 years, but thankfully no drug/alcohol problems. I think our main problem is that we’re just too much alike (both like the last word) and we bumped heads a lot over her schooling and some boyfriends. But you can’t believe how gratifying it was to hear this the other day, and I quote “Mom, I can’t believe how well you raised me and how lucky I was to live with such a normal family”. We had been talking about how some kids just don’t have a chance, because parents let them run wild, no rules, do drugs in front of their kids, etc. So this mom felt pretty good after that conversation. (picture strutting chicken with chest puffed out ;-) I couldn’t be more proud of this beautiful, mature, baby of mine (at almost 23 yrs old!)

And then there’s my son…my last baby and my baby boy. It’s so true what people say about the bond between a mother and her son and its probably doubly so, when he’s the only boy and baby in the family. He just turned 13. We have a great relationship, we talk a lot and he knows he can come to me with anything (the girls know this too). Then there’s the other side of this pre-teen boy coin that shows its ugly head. He just seems to do those typical “boy things” that cause him to get into trouble, with a typical response of “I don’t know” when standing in front of me. I’m even smiling as I type because I’ve told this kid, over and over, “don’t even think that I won’t find out!” I think I’ve got him believing that I do have some kind of sixth sense (got to keep him on his toes ya know). It’s never been anything bad…who drank the ?, when I said not to, how did such and such get broken, etc., you get the idea. I probably get more of those sharp pains above the eye, that you have to put your index and middle fingers on and press hard, than I should, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I love my kids.

Ok, I promise no more about my kids, maybe.

Thinking About How They've Grown

Yesterday was my youngest daughter’s 16th birthday, and that got me thinking about my kids and how fast time has gone by (the old cliché). We had a quiet little pizza party for her and wish with all my heart we could have thrown a party she’d never forget but we just don’t have the money. We did what we could and she was surprised with her gifts. I did surprise her with a “Sweet 16” banner that I made and she said she really liked it. (My camera broke recently so can’t take a pic, but will try to scan a couple to post soon.) So anyway, my little girl is growing up. I remember her first day of school, just a few days after we moved into this house (which wasn’t completely done, and still isn’t after 11 years!) I hadn’t realized she should be starting school that year, with us building our house and trying to get it done after 9 months while living in my in-laws home with 3 kids! (and yes, I was ready for the nut house after those 9 months, believe me). She has always been almost painfully shy, and I was so worried about how she would do with riding the bus alone and being in a new setting. She was so tiny and only 4 yrs old (she wouldn’t turn 5 for another few weeks). So I frantically searched for daycare (she was used to daycare been there since she was about 6 mos. old) that could watch her before/after school and also meet her at the bus. I did all of this while working 2 hrs away still (yes, that’s a 4 hour commute daily). But we made it and I remember following the bus on that first day, having promised her I’d meet her at school. I remember choking up and her just walking into class like not a thing was wrong, waving to me through the door. There have been plenty of times when there were tears or nervous stomach aches, but she always knew she would just have to choke her way through it and get it done.

Flash forward to a bright, loving, beautiful 16 yr old who has that same attitude and there are still times when she has to stand in front of a class and choke back nervous tears, but I’m so proud of her that she knows she has to do it and gets it done. She is just starting her driving training online (boy how times have changed since I took my driver training), so no permit yet to drive, which means no big worries (for me) right now. She doesn’t seem to be in any hurry either. My son secretly told me that she said she’s “sort of afraid” and it’s “too much responsibility”. I’m not pushing her, But I’ve mentioned that it’s her right of passage of sorts, her ticket to freedom, and just something that need to get done.

A Birthday Wish

In approximately 20 minutes it will be midnight and a new day, and that day is my baby girl’s birthday. She was born 16 years ago on a Friday the 13th. What a very, very lucky day for us. She is a beautiful, kind, generous, talented young woman, and I couldn’t ask for a better child. She does well in school and knows what she wants from life and I hope she gets all of it and more. I’m so proud to be her mom. Happy Big 16 Baby! We love you.

Last Blast of Summer

We’ve had our heat wave (hopefully) the last couple weeks and now have some cooler temps, which hint of the coming fall. With that, I thought I would give a last blast to summer with these summery aceo’s. They’ll be available later tonight on etsy.

I’ve wanted to start using paints more in backgrounds of my art. I picked up a couple new acrylic paints recently (I only have mostly old colors from when I was painting my wood crafts and they are country colors, like pine green, and heartland blue, yuk.) So picked up some pretty blue colors. I love this new (for me) blue called Tahiti blue and with paint in hand and no idea what I wanted to do, and already out of my comfort zone just thinking about painting, I dove in. I thought I could always just throw it away and no one will ever know.

I picked a few scraps lying around my desk and divided them up on three cards. I randomly layered them along with painting the blue on the background and/over the papers. I didn’t like them at that stage. I then stamped French script with white paint. Seemed a little better. Then I went to my images. I had no idea what, but I decided to go with a type of image I’ve never used before, so I picked a couple nudes and bathing beauties and moved them around to find what background I like them on. Ok, getting better. Looking at the nude lying down, she didn’t fit on the card and when I looked at her I decided that she should be a mermaid. I’ve never done a mermaid in my life and always shied away from them. But I found a piece of paper that was a copy of a famous painting and thought it would look great as the tail part. I drew a tail section and cut it out, added some glitter, a few white acrylic paint squiggles and called it done. The other one of the nude looking in the mirror, I added a stamped crown done in the same blue paint. I added some cut pieces of white fine netting and tinted some gel medium with the paint and layered the netting pieces with the gel medium to add some texture. I then added some “spots” of glitter, and some tiny wings. The last one of the bathing suit beauty, I didn’t do anything special, but I did add some tinted gel medium to simulate the water under the pier. I’m pretty pleased how they turned out and they actually came together quickly, even though I used elements and mediums I’d never used before.

Creative Weekend

So now that you know a little about me from my previous posts…I have to say I'm now obsessed with creating. Every spare second is spent at my desk trying to create. I’ve had some dry spells when nothing is there in my mind and other times I just can’t create something fast enough. I think my art has “grown” since starting my first atc’s last year at this time. I have more confidence in my ability to create collages. I can kind of “feel” what works and what doesn’t with my atc’s. But now I want to create bigger pieces and experiment with painting.

I don’t want to have one “style” of art that I just make over and over, I want to experiment with all kinds of art mediums. There are so many artists out there that I admire and they make it look so effortless. But although I’ve painted years ago it was always closely following a photograph. I want to create freely, “from the heart” as many say, or from the mind, is what comes to mind, lol. I’m not an overly demonstrative person, and I tend to keep my most personal feelings inside. But I want to be passionate in my creating; I want to be able to paint with a flourish (and have it actually look like something). I hope that time will come. It’s even hard for me to blog about my feelings, but it’s also easy in a way, i.e. hiding behind a computer. I don’t get much support of my art from my family; they are pretty flippant (except for my dad and step-mom they are supportive) about the whole thing. My family is of the mind “get a real job” and make some real money. They’re probably right, but for the time being I want to take this road and see where it leads me. I know I won’t ever be famous, but something inside me has changed since I found art. I’m happier in a sense (but maybe that’s just the meds talking, lol). I’m not like jumping for joy kind of happy, but just content with myself right now. I’m not thinking the “dark thoughts” like I was this time last year. I’m excited to get up in the morning or the evening, depending on my sleep pattern at the time. I do my best work when I’m up at night, its quiet, and no disturbances.

I don’t have the money to take classes or go to those awesome ‘fests, so I’m surfing the ‘net and self-teaching by trial and error (there’s a heck of a lot of “error” too.) I’m so thankful for those artists who take the time to post tutorials and how-to’s. Below is a piece I did this weekend (this was a good creative weekend for me). Although the style is not something I would think of doing on my own, it was fun and the inspiration was from a lady whose art I really like, Debra of mtjoyschool. I'll be keeping this one for myself. The A3 is a little hidden meaning, all three of my kids' names begin with "A". Pretty clever eh? Well ttfn off to drive my rounds to pick up my two kids from school.

My Humble Arty Beginnings...(cont.)

My senior year I moved out on my own, so I was too busy trying to stay alive to do much art. Then after high school I was too busy working and I don’t remember doing anything arty. Then at 24 I became a mom. I remember sewing all her crib bedding, purple and yellow did sew all her bedding and made some her clothes (which was practical as a single mom). I just entrusted my oldest daughter with some of those keepsakes and her old quilt, that I had stored away in boxes.

At one point baby and I, moved back in w/ my dad and brother after my mom passed away and started woodworking, which I had always been interested in. My dad had an awesome Shopsmith and he also did some woodworking. We both had our items in a consignment shop in the Napa wine country for a time. I kept up with the woodworking through my marriage and 2nd and 3rd kids. After I moved to No. Calif. I put some items in a consignment shop here, but didn’t do too well. So the wood crafting went by the wayside…but I still have some of them stored in boxes.

Then I got too busy raising kids to do anything crafty. A few years back, I wanted to make some Christmas items my country look home, so I made a few soft ornaments, like snowmen and santas. I also have several unfinished holiday cross-stitch things stored somewhere. Since then my décor has changed dozens of times and I no longer use those ornaments, but I still have them stored in boxes. (I'm seeing a trend here...).

Next came trying my hand at quilting and sewing. I inherited a box of awesome vintage fabric and quilt pieces from my grandmother when she passed away. So I was jazzed to learn how to quilt so I could use these fabrics and pieces. I had learned how to sew in high school in a home economics class, which was a great thing for young people back then. I wish they still offered something like this for kids nowadays. None of my kids knows how to sew and they don’t want to learn. So anyway, I've always sewn when the need arose, i.e. new curtains for the new house, pillows for the couch, some baby/kids clothes, “letting out” clothes that seem to have shrunk while hanging in the back of a dark closet. You get the picture.

I started buying fabric and fabric and more fabric. I now have several storage boxes full of fabric. I started several quilts, but found out I just couldn't get seams to line up very well, and everything turn out crooked. (I did manage to finish a pretty quilt for my granddaughter before she was born.) I’m still promising my daughter I’ll finish her quilt (that I have stored in a box).

Then I thought I could make some of those cute boutique baby clothes I saw for big bucks on ebay, (after I got used to the idea that my daughter was having a baby). I made several outfits and didn't get a very warm reception from baby's mom! I was pretty bummed. She would rather her new baby have those cute store bought clothes. So there went that, and the clothes went up on ebay.

A couple of the items I made for my granddaughter that ended up on ebay.

About that time I found myself going into a deep depression (deeper than my usual deep), and I talked to my dad a lot during this time. One day while we were talking, he said to me “I don’t know why you never kept up with your art and painting”. We talked some more and about it and I went home and soon it was like they say “a light went on” and I knew I had to start creating art. I don’t remember that I was specifically looking for anything on ebay, but I found some art called ATC’s. I did some more research on the Internet and knew this was what I had to do.

Seems like I’ve come full circle and found art again after all these years.

My first atc, now that I look back at it, it sure reflects my state of mind at the time.

My Humble Arty Beginnings...

New tags listed on etsy

I guess I’ve always been arty. I remember as a kid drawing and coloring a lot. I loved color books and I always wanted my crayons sharp (wonder what that means??) My best subject in school as a kid was art, but I think I even got bad grades in that too. In middle school I remember I had an art teacher who, to me then, was soo “far out there”. She wore bright “hippy” clothes, had this big bleach blond hairdo, and wore giant jewelry pieces (I’d probably want to be her friend now). I do have to say she introduced me to some “real” art styles. She showed us how to do block prints, actually giving us moody, pre-pubescent kids sharp instruments in which to carve our piece of pine! I remember making some kind of nature scene with trees and using a brayer and ink and then laying down a piece of paper to transfer the ink. I thought that was way cool! We also made and fired clay, and I remember having my purple brontosaurus style dinosaur with me until it was lost or broken when I was living on my own. I also remember doing some paper mache’ and collage.

Then in high school I finally got some formal instruction, back when you could take three art periods and screw around in two of them (much to the teachers displeasure) and all your art supplies were given to you by the school. Now parents have to cough up big bucks so their kids can take an art class, or ride the bus, or go on a field trip…sorry, I burped up a little bitterness. I had a great teacher and I still remember (most) of everything I learned. I mostly painted then, did a few pen and ink and graphite sketches, but I never could master drawing people. They always ended up looking someone in need of emergency plastic surgery (back when plastic surgery was a secret to be kept in the closet and not bragged about or given to 17 year olds because they ask). I just recently found out my brother has one of my huge paintings, which was a nice surprise. He thought I knew he had it. I want to take a pic of it, but my camera just died. Which brings me into a whole new quandary…I need a camera to take pics of my art in order to sell it, to make money in order to buy a new camera! Oyvay! But I digress….

Well, gotta run babysitting my darling devilish granddaughter until Sunday, so only had a few minutes while she napped...and that's a whole 'nother blog.

Dreams of a Boy

A recently listed piece on my etsy

To Blog or Not to Blog

Everyone I know, (all three of them) has a “blog” of some sorts it seems, and since I’ve been thinking about blogs lately, I’ve been reading quite a few. The ones I’ve read run the full spectrum, from those wanting to keep family members scattered hither and yon (where did that come from, I sound like I’m 90) updated on family goings on (or brag about junior’s first smile), others’ ranting about worldly problems or personal slights, or just sharing one’s artistic talents (the ones I especially like to read). I’m beginning to feel left out. But I had to ask myself… do I have anything particularly interesting to say or any expert wisdom to impart or even have a life [interesting enough] that the whole ‘net-world would want to read about it every…single … day? Well, I knew the answer before I even said “no, no and no” (no one heard me cuz I looked around). But I think that, in itself, is as much of a draw [having nothing of importance to say] to some to read and/or post a blog.

By now you must have guessed I decided to jump into the big blog pool (or else I’ve been taken over by aliens and I’m being made to type this against my will…hmmm). So now I will have more worries added to my already worry raddled life. Will anyone visit my blog? Will anyone leave a comment? Will it be a nasty comment? OMG what have I gotten myself into!!? Will I have to up my meds. in order to cope? So anyway…another reason is that I’ve come across quite a few blogs that I like and want to be able to link to them without having to save them as favorites on my ancient, tiny-memoried, computer. I tell myself it’s for practical, memory-saving, reasons that I will blog. I will also try to make this an interesting adventure for both myself and anyone else who happens to stumble in here.