creating time

If only I could create a healthy body and spirit like I can create art.
I never run out of ideas and I always find time to do it.
Resting my back is helping me find more down time to work but I really wish I was on my normal schedule. I'm doing small lap projects, cards, journal pages, journaling, etc.
Here is one little project I completed for the Artella Creative Twist for May...Joy Quilt (paper, batting, stitching and buttons)

an ever present help

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
My back is out again. Due to art again. I was manhandling my huge pot to get the inside covered with glaze and felt it pull. I finished class and even loaded it into the kiln ( a mistake of course.) Now I can't rest in anyone place for more than a couple hours. Heat, hot showers, Ibuprofen and LOTS OF PRAYER!
I'll soon be good as new. I know these times come for the purpose of slowing us down a bit but this is not the time I choose to slow my pace.
I have classes to teach and ceramics to finish and projects to start and spring cleaning inside and outside and ....the list goes on....
maybe a time to plan art projects and classes for the rest of the term.

more from HER SERIES

Here is the altered and completed (?) Her life was one of hopes and dreams.

Excited about another project....a collaborative journal project, planning with a fellow artist and friend. More about that later.

Busy day....got to get to it!

Look here to see more of my images....http://www.flickr.com/

Getting there

As you can hopefully see. This idea is working. I have to gel everything in place and add the words, still being edited, "Her life was filled with hopes and dreams." In red.
Much better than before.

Patience is the key

After heading in a similar direction for the "Her life was one of hopes and dreams" to "Her life was beautifully blessed" with the tiled background it dawned on me to do a similar design but rather than picture by picture. Scatter fewer in almost a checker board style but not square per square. Raise some on foam core and some flat to canvas and central image of my aunt perhaps raised as well. I am now literally tearing all the gelled images from the canvas to sand, prime and repaint. You may wonder why not just start a new canvas. One, I don't have another and two, it's one of those nice finished edge canvases so I really want to use it. I have the image of the original piece if I need to show the progression from bad to good. At least I hope the piece is going to be good. The photo will be up as soon as I know. Otherwise just more moaning and groaning.

always a work in progress

Just like God is never finished with me, I am never finished with a piece of art. Sometimes it comes together nicely. Sometimes it takes more time, thought, fiddling and changing and starting over even. I hope I keep trying to get it right the way God keeps trying to get me right. I don't know but I think he has the harder job. I know he does. I know me.
Anyway, here are two "Her" pieces in progess. "Her life was full of hope" (the whiter one) needs much work. "Her life was beautifully blessed" is digital images attached to a canvas with edges and central figure enhanced with paint and words stamped in acrylic around the perimeter. It's another favorite in this series. The other is still a mess but I will get it right.
I can see God nodding and smiling.

Ready to Create

and not enough time to do it all. I want to paint and create for the annual I AM WOMAN show but I have to teach in a couple of hours. Do it now you think, well when I finish this I have to fix my hubby's dinner before I leave for my class. Why didn't I do it this morning? I was in Ceramics class. It's so cool. I'm learning all the details and have made (hand built) two fabulous pots. I made a slab built footed tray and am now making a slab built tea pot. Next I will make a vase form. I love this class. It fuels my creativity but it also zaps alot of energy and fills in time I could be doing other projects. No matter. I love to create and nothing can stop me until I breathe my last breath.

Here is a recent work I am quite happy with from my Her series. Two others in the works, "Her joy was her family"
a small 8X10 canvas with blue and white acrylic paint and the image is my mother in law Lois whom I only knew for about 15 months. She died before we were married one year. She was a very loving and kind woman who did indeed find great joy in her family and was a wonderful caretaker. The background drawing of her face is another favorite image of her as a young woman. The two computer images and the tag with a repeated image under a slide form a very asymmetrical design which I actually like quite a lot.

girlfriends

Maybe.........

I was so bummed out to get rejected with my first piece I sent to a publication
(SS Studios) but with three more submissions in the mail and reading other artists sites and blogs AND getting a solicit from Legacy has given me new hope.
Here is the rejected pieces.
Girlfriends theme.

Stay Creative

The best way to stay creative for me is to have a project developing at all times.
I often start one before I finish one so I never have a break between projects.
I have more ideas than I can ever finish in my life time. I may have an on going project that can't be finished in one work time or even several, like an altered book or my artist journal. I may have my watercolor paints set up with several small paintings being made or watercolor or stamped and collaged greeting cards. My sketch book is always nearby with a pen or pencil to jot down quick ideas for more projects.
So keep working and don't ever finish before you start another project.

Never quit!

I've learned as an artist the most valuable lesson.
Never quit!
If I had never entered another show after my first rejection,
I would never understan just how much joy art affords me.
I have entered shows for about 15 years and I still get rejected but
I often get in and sometimes win a prize but more importantly I keep doing it.
I will do art the rest of my life. I may never make a living at it or
win more than a few prizes but I feel that art has made me grow as a person....
spiritually, emotionally, socially, and creatively.

The piece below was one of three entries that did get in. The one I labored over was rejected but this one "Winter Sun" was a quick less than an hour painting. It was accepted in a show of about 50 pieces where there were about 180 entries. So I'm just happy to be in the show. It's at the Scheile Museum in Gastonia, NC.

So never give up!

Persistence

Disappointed my first submission to a publication of art was turned down but still being persistent in opitmism that my other two submissions are being considered. Also in the process of submitting two more.
Meanwhile the "Her..." series continues.
Here are two more.
"Her loyalty was awesome" and "Her joy was her family"
Be persistent and never give up your dreams