Imagine This

Last Camp Day -- ART DAY!

Let's get going!


We are making a doll using Korie's drawing as a pattern.
(Click on picture to get better view.)


We got the head stuffed. I'm sewing on the machine (to make it go fast enoough for a six year old) and Korie is stuffing.


Now we have all body parts stuffed but not sewn together yet. Korie has selected all the fabrics, buttons, yarn, etc.


Monitoring and gluing - both important tasks. LOL.


Remember the heart? After we got the body sewn together - all but the head, Korie re-evaluated and said, "She needs a heart." I told her no one would see it -- she said in 'build-a-bear' fashion, "I don't care. She has to have a heart." So in it went - stuffed right in where the heart goes!

< < < AND THEN THE UNVEILING > > >

When we took Korie to meet her Mom to go home, we showed the doll to her and to her sister, Carly. both were very impressed with it. Carly said in wide-eyed amazement, "Wow! It *does* look exactly like Korie's drawings of girls."



WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Day 3 Extravaganza!

A hint to today's grand finale activity.

But first a little breakfast . . .

 

I can have whatever I want for Breakfast -- I choose . . .
Yes, chicken tenders and ketchup.

Typical CampT Breakfast
Direct from the "Anything-you-want" Grocery shopping adventure.

After a nutritious breakfast - not! - we head off to the highlight of this year's camp . . .

THE BUTTERFLY MUSEUM

 

When we entered the tropical paradise . . . sweet, beautiful butterflies were everywhere. They flew around in graceful swirls, they landed on the ground, trees, people,and feeding bowls. It was great - except for one thing...

 

Korie was terrified of them!

She froze in her tracks when one had landed in our path. She ducked and squelled when they flew past us. Oh, My heavens! So we did a quick soiree though the exhibit taking pictures and prodding Korie on.

 

 

When we reached the bottom and were ready to make the other half of the trek out of the museum, Korie said with fists clenched against her chest, head bowed, eyes half closed . . .

"I'LL BE GLAD WHEN WE'RE *DONE* WITH THIS!"

Hmmm-m-m... so much for the grand finale! LOL.

I didn't like the butterfly museum.

But I LOVED the gift shop! I got a fancy pen and a glittery, gemstone butterfly pin!!

(A little shopping always saves the day!)

Next, a McDonald's lunch . . . sort of . . . selected of course by the camper!

 

Well, yes, French fries and ice cream. What'd ya expect?

 

 

WooHoo, we're leaving the butterfly museum!!

After a meander through the dinosaurs and more gift shops, we made our way to the car to return home. Though I got no picture of it, Korie and Papa T went riding on the golf cart. Korie drove the whole nine holes! Later, Korie and I decided we must get serious about that art project.

 

Yea! We're starting tonight. Tomorrow we will finish it!!

Sam, Groceries, and Art

After Camp Turlington left the Incredible Pizza, we stopped by the Sam Houston statue on the way home. This is an annual favorite and anyway, Korie had been too little to graffiti her name on the back of Sam's face last year.

 
Now, which Papa T put that hat on my sweet girl?
And where did she learn that pose?

   

In the park behind the statue is an little amphitheater with a small(?) copy of Sam's face. The back of it is concave and unfinished. The kids use markers to graffiti their name on it in the back. With a little lift, we helped Korie take this traditional picture looking over the face.

After a short walk through the park, the trail brings you out around the base of the statue. Korie moved out from the base but still couldn't see Sam's shoulders or head!
The statue is just too tall to see totally from this area. His feet are planted on top of the base which is barely visible just above the head of the lady holding the little boy. . .  Even the base is taller than any of the adults. Yes, this statue is best seen from the car driving along I-45! Except, of course, you don't want to miss the visitor's center behind the statue. So, stop in, by all means!

On our way out, we witnessed this horrible spectacle. Graffiti in our unofficial, sort-of-arthorized spot behind Sam's head is way different from this plant-damaging graffiti. Korie agreed.

After leaving the statue grounds, we took a tired camper to the traditional "buy-anything-you-want" grocery store shopping spree.

Really! Anything I want!
(What are grandparents for?)


Hm-m-m, fruit? I dunno. Uh, Papa T, are you calling your banker?


I doubt Papa T saved 15€ents like the sign behind him said, don't you?

We got home and had one of the Lunchables  and fruit for supper. THEN - -

Out to the Studio to make final plans and gather materials for the art project!
(More in the next post.)

Camp Turlington - Session One, Day Two

Christ the Redeemer Stained Glass Exhibit
by members of the First Christian Church

We got up early and took breakfast on the go (dry Cheerios and apple juice.) We went to my church to see the exhibit of stained glass works by some of my church family members and me. The ten of us created these stained glass butterflies assembled together to reveal an image of Christ in the background.

First Christian Church Sanctuary 
Resurrection decor including the stained glass exhibit

Stained Glass Exhibit (Click image for a closer look)

Can you see the Christ image?  Hint: He is a silhouette in emerald green. If you look at all ten glasses as one whole piece and concentrate on the  green glass background, you'll see it forms an image of the upper part of Christ's body with his arms extended.

 

 
The upper middle piece has Christ's head in green (with a butterfly in front of it, of course.) This glass is by Rev. Kyle Dennis who taught us to create these stained glass pieces. He is an accomplished stained glass artist and has made many glasses for the rooms of our church.

The glass on the far right side of the installation contains the green silhouette of Christ's outstretched hand. (Clearly visible here as both butterflies are behind the hand.) This glass was created by my good friend and wonderful artist, Molly Campbell. This was her first stained glass work.

My butterfly is in front of the left sleeve of Christ's robe. This was my first attempt at stained glass. In fact, only one of the artists besides Kyle had any prior experience with stained glass. Kyle said he encouraged advanced images because we wouldn't know any better than to create them even though we had only five weeks (one day a week) to complete them. None of us would agree to intricate images in that time constraint again!

Now click on the picture above of the whole stained glass installation to get a large image and see if you can identify the Christ figure. Don't worry if you can't ever see it. No matter what we do or say some folks just can't see the image of Christ back there. It's a gorgeous display even if all you see is the butterflies, right? Besides, when Christ actually appears again, you'll see him -- EVERYONE will see him! There'll be no mistaking or missing Him then.

By the way, day before yesterday Kyle led a devotional for the artists involved in this project. We reflected on the hand of Christ in our creations. Then we disassembled the installation and each of us took our butterflies home. Mine will have a home in the kitchen window.

But I digress -- let's get back to Camp Turlington. This was only the first item on the agenda for day 2. Korie liked the stained glasses but I think she enjoyed the back stage look at the church sanctuary even more. She went back in the Sacristy and climbed the steps to the Baptistry. She also investigated the sound room at the back of the sanctuary behind the curtain:

Korie said excitedly, "This is the first time I've seen this [behind-the-scenes] in any church."
(She and her family - my son, DIL, and two other grandchildren - attend a large Catholic Church.)

Now we must go home to pick up Papa T and get on with Day 2.

THE BLINK_EYED MONSTER

What does an imaginative child do to pass the time while waiting in boredom for two grown-ups to get ready to go somewhere????? I'll show you!!!! (Just click the arrow below to watch the video.)

Oh, how she loved those sunglasses. Have you noticed that to entertain a young child often takes next to nothing? On the other hand sometimes we go to the other extreme like . . . none other than an annual favorite --

INCREDIBLE PIZZA!

 
Playing miniature golf. The first picture was candid but she posed for the other one. (L'il Drama Queen)

Next? Miniature bowling:

 
Though she first started in a seated position, she soon discovered she could handle this miniature bowling in the regular way!

Woohoo! A Strike!!


Now, how 'bout a game of air hockey with Papa T - I can beat him!

 

   
Deal or No Deal was stressful . . .

. . . but very profitable!!


So now, let's chill in the playground area:








 

ALL DONE!!

Well, that was the end of the first part of the day. We've still got a touristy visit to make and the famous GROCERY STORE FIASCO before we go back to the studio to end day 2.

Check back soon for more hints about Korie's art project. Day 2 will continue in the next post. WHEW!

Summer?

How do I know it's summer?
I'll give you three hints:

1.

2.  

 

3. 

How do I know it's summer?
Ah-h-h-h, yes! 1. Yummy watermelon, 2. Lip-pursing, sour green plums, and 3. Incredible Pizza!

Tha-a-a-a-a-t's right -- CAMP TURLINGTON 2009!!!!!!

Korie was our first camper this year. She is six years old and still has her inner artist intact. Yippee!

You can tell that Mimi is a year older because I forgot to take the camera on Day One of Camp Turlington. We met Korie's whole family for lunch and took her back to Huntsville with us... a tired little girl. She had awakened early in anticipation of her turn at Camp Turlington and the fatigue added to her apprehension of leaving mama. She cried for about a third of the trip - uncertain about wanting to go - until Mimi got in the back seat with her. The fun began then as we started making camp plans.

We went immediately to see the Disney movie, UP, and loved it. (Mama has been forgotten - no more tears. LOL) Then we went home to unpack, eat, and go to the studio for a good start on an idea for this summer's art project. Here's a hint as to what it is:

Korie's Sketch

We managed to get out of the studio at 10:30PM and went to bed to look at pictures in two art magazines, and then to read two books - The Boy who Ate Around and The Poky Little Puppy (the first is one of my current favorite children's books written and illustrated by Henrik Drescher and the second was my favorite when I was Korie's age.)

 

Stay tuned as Day 2 of Camp Turlington is jam packed!

Hey! My Book *IS* on the Cover! (Sort of . . )

L.K. Ludwig's New Book is Here!!!!

   

My Journal Cover                                      L.K.'s Book Cover

Oh, wow! Now I know how it feels to have even a little bit of your art on the cover of a published book!! L.K. Ludwig's new book, published by Quarry, has a cover based on my journal cover. Naturally, they used some technology to move things around for the cover but it's still recognizable as my art. I'm so excited. On the cover of LK's book, the area inside the metal slide frame is cut out so that when you open the book, you see that the "Please Sign In" tag is actually on the front endpaper. That's pretty cool - a hole in the cover.

Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media is a terrific book. I can tell by just flipping through it. (I just got it. Haven't had time yet to read it!) It is crammed full of images from many, many collaborative journals.

      
Introduction to the book, pages 9 and 10

Lucky me! My Colour Play journal is featured on the page facing the introduction to the book. And get this -- see the little strip of trinkets to the right of the introduction? That is a picture of a part of my book spine! How clever is that? I think if you click on the introduction page to get a larger scan, you can probably read what the book is about.

I tried to show you a larger scan of the spine of my book in the image to the right here. This is a really terrible picture of it because I had to open to covers on the scanner and that made a dip in the middle where the charms don't show and there is no light. Bummer. I didn't have my digital camera then. When I get my book back. I'll try to get a decent photo and replace this one. You will have to click on the image to see the scan at all.

ART JOURNAL COLLABORATIVES

Four of our books from the Arte ed Anima group's Colour Play art journal collaborative were pictured on the page facing the introduction to art journal collaboratives. (Click on the image to see it more clearly.) The books shown here are (left to right, top to bottom) by Lynne Porter, Lou McCulloch, Sally Turlington, and Kim Logan.

In L.K.'s book, the section on art journal collaboratives begins with the Colour Play journal round robin. There is a short article and TEN large pictures of some of the journal pages in that project.

I blogged about the Colour Play project, hostessed by Sue Berry, which traveled from the UK across the United States. The assignment each month specified a different art technique and color palette that had to be used. Each artist made her book and created the pages for January before sending the book on the next artist. You might enjoy seeing those blog posts for 2006:  January 22 , February 2, June 2, June 28, and Oct. 8. Since that round robin started before I began my blog, I didn't have blog posts for all the assignments. You can see the the pages I did for the books in my photo album called, Colour Play.

Spreads by Sue Berry (top) and Sally Turlington (bottom)


ALTERED BOOK ROUND ROBINS

In another section, L.K. talks about altered book round robins. In the introduction to that section, my altered calendar spread was shown on the facing page along with five spreads from other altered books:

 
The middle spread on the left side is mine. And the strip on the right page, too.

Did you even notice that the strip they used one this introduction page is from my spread also? They used a strip of images right down the center of my spread (on the left page) - including the tags at the top of the book. I'll show you these two spreads in larger versions so you might see what I'm talking about.

See? All except the top red part of the strip came from the right-most edge of this page. (You will probably have to click on these images to see larger versions of them.)



This is the other page shown in the spread they have in the book . . . although, the two pages were not opposite each other in the actual altered calendars -- more technology on Quarry's part. I don't mind. I'm just thrilled to have art in the book. 

The section in L.K.'s book about altered books starts with our Altered Calendar round robin hosted by Kathy Wasilewski. There is a short article about the round robin and 14 large pictures of spreads in the various altered appointment calendars.

My spread is the one on top here.

Here is a better look at those two pages I was happy to get into this luscious book:

 
Birthday and Saturday's Child, mixed media spread in altered calendar
(Click on the image to get a look at some of the writing.)

My contributions were small but - hey, I'm thrilled. This is a super book just crammed with fantastic artists other than the ones I've already mentioned -- Keely Barham, Randi Feuerhelm-Watts, Rande Hanson, Katie Kendrick, Majia Lepore, Deb Lewis, Sandra McCall, Melissa McCobb Hubbell, Lou McCulloch, Laurie Mika, Carol Parks, DJ Pettitt, Joanna Pierotti, Ruth Rae, Kristen Robinson, Claudia Roulier, Red Scott, Kelly Snelling, Helga Strauss, Judy Wise, Catherine Witherell, and ONE HUNDRED NINETY others including my friends from the two swaps I participated in - Sue Berry,  Marci Glenn, Cece Grimes,  Lynne Howe, Lynn Porter, Kim Logan, Caren McNee, Jennifer Rowland, and Liz Smith. Whew! What a talented crew.

COLLABORATIVE MIXED MEDIA EXCHANGES

Assemblage and Jewelry Collaboration by Deryn Mentock and Jen Worden

My good friend, Deryn Mentock and her collaborator, Jen Worden, have a featured article about an assemblage, sculpture, and jewelry piece they created called Midnight in the Valley of the Bones.

 
Assemblage and Jewelry colaboration by Deryn Mentock and Jen Worden

This is an awesome piece with a detachable necklace. It is based on the story about Ezekiel when he came upon a valley of dry bones where God commanded him to speak to the bones. God breathed into the bones and brought them to life! (Great story -- read it n Ezekiel Chapter 37.) Jen's assemblage is facinating and Deryn's accompanying necklace is no less a marvel, as her jewelry usually is.

Get this hot-off-the-press book and check all the newest things out for yourself. And be sure sure to check the blogs of some of the artists I've mentioned. Undoubtedly, they will have blog posts about the behind-the-scenes goings-on!!

Don't let the cover picture at Amazon fool you, they used a "working" cover picture. If you click to "see inside" the book, you'll get the right cover picture. Every time I see this one, my tummy flips like when you see an old friend! That journal cover is an old friend for sure.

~~~

God is good!

Christ the Redeemer

Huntsville newspaper front page on Easter 2009!!

Easter Stained Glass Display above the altar at Huntsville's First Christian Church.

Can you see the silhouette figure of Christ in the background of our stained glass butterfly panels? He is done in green glass and shows his head, shoulders and outstretched arms and hands. Just focus on the green glass that is in every one of the ten butterfly panels -- disregard the butterflies and see only the green background. See HIM? (Hint: the top center panel has His head and the left-most and right-most panels have his hands.) He is modeled after the statute, Christ the Redeemer, located in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. (Ours is just the top portion of it - from the chest up)

Well, we were quite excited at our church on Easter morning - not just because we were celebrating the risen Christ - but because our Easter art project made the first page of the paper -- above the fold!!! and what was below the fold??

A picture of our young, wiser-than-his-years minister, Kyle Dennis, shown adjusting . . .

MY STAINED GLASS!!! Yes, this is the one I made. Isn't that cool? The whole idea for the glass project was Kyle's. His hobby is making stained glass and he's really quite good at it. He took a bunch of beginners, gave us intermediate projects (we selected our own butterfly, colors, and glass), taught us to make patterns and construct our panels. It took about six weeks of work for us all to complete our windows.

This display was really gorgeous with our glorious stained glass of Christ in Gethsemane towering over the altar and many gorgeous Easter lilies adorning the area all around the sides. We were all very proud of the handiwork. I was especially excited abou t it as I had my mom and my uncle (from California) - both in their 80's visting! What a treat!

Easter 2009
(Left to right: Dorothy (Mom), Ray (choir member), Jerry (DH), Molly (BFF), Jack (Uncle), Carol (choir director & BFF), Sally (me), Charlie (Molly's DH)

What a great crew - everyone except Mom, Jack, and my DH is in the church choir!. What angels they all are. We had a special after-church, Easter dinner together. Fun.

But - - I digress... back to the story of the stained glass.

This is just one of many art projects we have done and have planned as a result of Kyle's studies at Wesley Theological Seminary where he is currently pursuing a doctorate of ministry. And get this --- his program there is a specialty in ART AND THEOLOGY!! Yeas, I said ART and Theology!! Isn't that the grandest thing you've herd in a long while from a theological seminary?? We are all so thrilled. Our minister is a very talented guy, interested in all the arts - especially the aspect of finding and connecting with Christ in art. there are many of us in the church that are already involded in one or more of the arts and many more climbing on board with each new project!

I'll be telling you more about this exciting program in the church as we get more accomplished. I have agreed to serve as arts ministry team leader. One of our first projects is to renovate one of the classrooms in our church to be used as an art studio. This coming Saturday we will be moving furniture, painting, installing a sink, building cabinets and shelves, etc. After that we will be using money designated by our board to purchase tables and chairs for the studio. Another project is working on guidelines and procedures for using our fellowship hall as an art gallery! Oh, it is all just too exciting.

In case you are interested in reading the article published in our newspaper on Easter, I've included it below. [I couldn't help but add a couple of, hopefully, clarifying notes. My comments are in brackets. Check out the diagram I added at the bottom to try to shed some light on the neswpaper guy's understanding of what was surely a little mini-sermon from Kyle as they talked about the stained glass project. LOL]

I'll be posting about our other art projects very soon. (Forgive me for taking such a long break from you. I've missed you and those reaffirming comments you make to my blog posts. I'll do my best not to be away so long again.) so, what do you think about my very first stained glass window? this is a very crude picture of it -- taken from the newspaper. The display is still up in the sanctuary of the church. When it comes down, I'll try to get a better photo of it. It was quite fun to make -- notice the little wire antennae -- they are actually only attached on one end so they look even more real.

Here is a copy of the article from the paper:

Church members focus on the arts and theology

By Brandon Scott
Item Correspondent

First Christian Church created something special for its congregation this Easter Sunday. When the doors of the church are open, they will be greeted by the silhouette outline of “Christ the Redeemer.”

Members of the church designed 10 individual stained glass windows with different patterns in each of them. The windows will hang in the sanctuary above the altar in the church at 1800 Avenue R.  The overall theme ties the pieces together to represent the resurrected Christ. Easter lilies will also fill the baptistery.

Pastor Kyle Dennis was inspired with the idea shortly before traveling to Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. At this ministry program, the focus is the arts and theology.

Dennis wants to reintroduce the arts into worship and spiritual development. “We’ve lost the ability to read and interpret language, music, image and dance,” Dennis said. “When limiting ourselves to words we limit ourselves to a part of who God is.”

The butterfly is a standard symbol of resurrection and the windows are designed to communicate salvation. Dennis distinguished salvation as a process as opposed to an event.

“Justification usually happens right away,” Dennis said. [Actually, justification is gifted to us by God at the time we become believers.] “Sanctification occurs [during] the rest of our lives [as we are] being made holy [in the image of Jesus], but glorification is the part of the process that lasts the longest. It’s eternal life.” [A believer enters eternal life at the point of death or at the time our savior returns -- whichever is first!]

Later he [Dennis] went on to define art as a process as opposed to a product, which can be compared to the resurrection of Christ as a process and salvation as a process. The resurrection of Christ validated the suffrage of the crucifixion, just as sanctification ultimately leads to salvation. [Salvation is the term given to the whole process - from birth and then Justification, through Sanctification,  to final Glorification.]

Dennis explained the tedious process of cutting the stained glass to make windows look like art to the public eye. It takes time and sacrifice, as does anything else worth glorifying, he said. This church will emphasize the significance of the suffrage that eventually leads to the holy day known as Easter.

 

This diagram was first drawn for me by Kyle in the very first Bible study I did at this church. I really liked how it seemed to clarify some vague terms in my mind. I later added some verses to the diagram and I'm sure there are even better ones that I have here to illustrate the three terms of salvation.

Hope your Easter was as fun, inspiring and hopeful as mine was.

Pasticcio's Out and I'm In!!!

QUality ART Zine by Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn

WooHoo!!! I got published in the lastest issue of Pasticcio (Issue 6). Doesn't it thrill the socks off of ya when you get a piece published? It does me... for sure...  usually I have such little to offer for publication that when I actually see one of my pieces in a magazine, book, or zine, it just tickles me pink! Here is the piece they selected for this issue:

Chickadee, mixed media collage

I created this collage in a journal belonging to someone in a round robin. It is text, a map, fabric, transparencies, paper collage items, rubber stamped images, and thread.

I have to admit, this is one of my favorite pieces. I've done some doozies that I wasn't all that crazy about but this one I like. Does that happen to you? You get finished with a piece and it really doesn't click for you while others do? But some of the ones I don't like, other people do like and vice versa . . . so go figure.

My thanks to Angela and Sara for including me this time! I think their quartz rocks! (Even when I'm not in it.) These gals must be the busiest artists in the universe with all the publishing they are doing. Check out their web sites linked above or their blogs: Angela's Said and Done and Sarah's Ragtags Studio Central for all the latest in their worlds.

A Nice Feeling!

Just a Note Good Cheer for You

Woo Hoo!! Mail Art!

My good art buddy, Sharon Tomlinson of All Norah's Art, created this unbelievably stupendous postcard! Isn't it just the most fabulous feeling to open the mail box and get a surprise like this? I wasn't expecting anything from Sharon and wowza look what she sent me. It's beautifully painted and collaged. The scan doesn't do justice. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find that Sharon thinks enough of me to let go of this gorgeous piece of work and send it to me! Thanks ever so much, Sharon -- I'm gonna frame it somehow and display it for sure.

Have a great day everyone. It's beautiful weather these days in my town. Just perks ya up - almost as much as unexpected mail art.

Life brings surprises

 

Just wanted to let you guys know what's up here. Last Monday we got a call that our precious grandson had been taken to Texas Children's Hospital emergency room with what turned out to  be appendicitis. He had surgery that night at midnight.

Of course, Papa T and I hightailed it to the hospital and then picked up the girls. We've been here all week playing nursemaid,  cook, housekeeper, and playmate to the girls. When they were in school, we'd go to the hospital. 

Our grandson's appendix was perforated so he had a longer stay than usual (five days as of today.) His blood count was finally ok for releasing him to come home today at noon.  Actually, praise God, he has done phenomenally well since the surgery except for that blood count. But he will be coming home today and as soon as we are no longer needed, we'll be going home, too.

We definitely learned some things about that culprit, the appendix.

    • Your appendix is a finger-shaped pouch that projects out from your colon on the lower right side of your abdomen. This small structure has no known essential purpose, but that doesn't mean it can't cause problems.

    • The main symptom of appendicitis is pain that usually begins around the navel and then shifts to the lower right abdomen. The pain of appendicitis increases over a period of six to 12 hours, and usually becomes severe eventually. 

     Accompanying symptoms could be:

• Nausea and sometimes vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• A low-grade fever that starts after other symptoms appear
• Constipation
• An inability to pass gas
• Diarrhea
• Abdominal swelling

    • If you apply gentle pressure to the area that hurts, it will feel tender. As you release the pressure, especially if you do it suddenly, appendicitis pain often will feel worse (rebound tenderness). It will also tend to get worse if you cough, walk or make other jarring movements.

    • The pain may lessen somewhat if you lie on your side and pull your knees up toward your chest.

    • Anyone can develop appendicitis, but it most often strikes people (particularly boys or men) between the ages of 10 and 30. 

    • Appendicitis occurs when the appendix becomes blocked, often by stool, a foreign body, or cancer. Blockage may also occur from infection, since the appendix swells in response to any infection in the body. In both cases, bacteria may subsequently invade rapidly, causing the appendix to become inflamed and filled with pus. If not treated promptly, your appendix is likely to rupture.

    • Left untreated, an inflamed appendix will eventually burst, or perforate, spilling infectious materials into the abdominal cavity. This can lead to peritonitis, a serious inflammation of the abdominal cavity's lining (the peritoneum) that can be fatal unless it is treated quickly with strong antibiotics.   

    • The standard treatment for appendicitis is surgical removal of the appendix.

Maybe TMI, but if it comes your way, you might not be as puzzled as Kade's mom and dad were when the symptoms started. They thought at first it was just a stomach ache like kids get from time to time. Then a little fever - so maybe a virus? Next vomiting -- yes, probably a virus. Eventually greater pain. Finally, the pain moved to the right side and Kade began pointing to it there. All this over a period of 48 hours after which they visited the doctor who sent them to the emergency room. All appendicitis is always treated by doctors as an emergency.

A-A-A-A-ANYWAY, just thought you should know where I've been. Hopefully, I'll be able to get back to art some time soon. See ya then. Meanwhile, praise God for the healing of our bodies!

Honest, I AM Working - No kidding.

So, here's what's up. The drawers? Well, that's what I've been working on  -- that and putting my computer back to working order. But first  -- the drawers:

O-O-O-O-OH NO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!!!!!!!!

Well, darn!  I'll be off line and unable to post for a few days. My computer is sick - it can only boot up half way. I HATE it when that happens! If you need me, you can email me (I will be trying to get a turn on one of my sweet husband's computers so I can read my email online. hmmm) Or -- just comment here and I'll get that in my email. Thanks.

Meanwhile, Sharon is closest to the correct answer as to what happened in my studio. I DID try to get one more little cabinet of drawers squeezed in -- and I did -- well I will soon -- I mean . . . er . . . um . . .that is, I DID get a new bunch of drawers and I'm trying to sqeeze them in - somewhere!  (What is it with me and drawers and boxes?)

When I get the computer back up and scan some pictures, I'll share, for sure.

Until then, prayers are not completely out of order for me as I trouble shoot my computer and as I work on "squeezing" out there in the studio.

Thanks, guys & gals.

Email me.

Later,

Sally sallyt@suddenlink.net

Ok, so what's up now?

What in the . . . ???


Here-a-mess, There-a-mess, Everywhere-a-mess-mess!!

OH! NO! My beautiful, clean studio! What's going on here? Is it just what the studio always looks like when I'm creating? Almost - but not quite this bad. So, can you get a clue as to what the situation might be? (Now, Deryn, you already know so don't tell.)

Give up?

Not so easy, my friends. Here is a B---I--G clue:

The clue is in this picture.

Ok, now you've got it, right? You know what's going on, right? BTW, I'm working as fast as I can to get it together so I can show you. Meanwhile, take a guess, why don't ya?

Time Out for a Friday Prompt

 
Partake Not, 6" X 6" (Mixed media collage with vintage papers,
stamps, ink, injet transfer, acrylic, and colored pencil)

Popular, skilled mixed media artist and author, L.K. Ludwig, has the first of what she calls her Friday Prompts on her blog post today. It is a found Poem Prompt and this is what she suggests:

• choose three pages from an old discarded book. Photocopies are fine.  Put the book itself away to reduce temptation!  (you can tuck what you don't use back inside the pages after, if you like.) 
• Have scissors at the ready.
• Scan the lines of text, not reading for comprehension but for the flavor of the phrases, for the way the words feel. Be like a reading divining rod, looking for a response from inside.  Don't overthink. 
• Snip those bits of phrase, those words, those reactions out from the paper right way.
• Arrange, rearrange, respond.  Perhaps a second delving into your three pages is needed.
• Adhere them to a journal page!
• This process should be fairly quick- and simple.  React, respond, snip, arrange, glue. Then as my littlest says, "Ta- Daaaaa!"
• You can then work the cut edges of paper into your page with a china marker, a stabilo marks all pencil (they blend with water) a watersoluble colored pencil or crayon, charcoal, even a bit of paint on your fingertip, or what-have-you!

L.K. then invites us to have a go at the prompt on one of our journal pages. Sometimes I do it like she suggests with the found text and sometimes I do it backwards, starting with the image(s) first and then picking the text.

I have a sack of old paperback romance novels beside my worktable in the studio. Often, when I need inspiration for a "story" for my mixed media collage, I pull out one of the books, open to a random page, and skim the words looking for a phrase that sounds intriguing.

Now, at this point I could never glue the words in as L.K. suggests in her prompt because sometimes when I'm done, the collage doesn't need the words - it tells the story all by itself, visually. In the case of the collage above, Partake Not, I knew I wanted to use the two figures and the little piece of vintage illustration but I didn't know what the "message" was. So I pulled out a book and found the sentence, "They would neither dance nor would they play any of the card games."

I really liked how the sentence and the two charaters "fit" together in meaning so I began to create the collage. I inked the background, glued on the vintage papers and then the two characters. The background was alittle too plain so to make it match the sentence even more, I masked the figures and papers behind them and then transfered an image of vintage playinig cards to the background.

At that point I thought that the picture all by itself did not impart the meaning of the sentence so I cut it out and glued it on. Voila! My page was finished.

I think limiting myself to three pages of text as L.K. suggests, would be fun to do especially if you start with the text and build the collage around it. Why not check out her examples and information on her blog, Poetic Eye, and join in the fun every Friday?

 
The Villager, 9" X 11" (Mixed media mail art on back of a
manilla envelope with ink, vintage papers, colored pencil, and faux postage.)

If you thought you'd seen one of those images from my collage, Partake Not, before -- you'd be correct. A year ago, I was into some Bantockesque mail art! I also showed you this envelope, which was not so Bantock-like but fun anyway. And there is that little fellow that is in Partake Not. I love him.
 
I created the faux postage at the bottom from a mixed media collage by my friend and very talented artist, Adrianna Hawks. (Artsy, if you read this, I hope you will email me because I've lost touch with you.)

The whole thing is on the back of a manilla envelope (do you still call them that? or do you call them brown envelopes?)

Wanna see the front of that envelope again?


Limited Edition, 7" X 10" (Mixed media on manilla envelope with
ink, vintage papers, marker, graphite, inkjet water transfer, and vintage circle pin.)


I have a huge week ahead of me and two more art projects I've signed on for, as well as a stained glass art project and major ministry assignment for my church. I'll tell you about that later. It is exciting. Hopefully, I can get back to my altered magazine model, too. Oh well, I AM an artist, you know, and often don't finish what I start. I'm committed to that one, though, so I'll get back to it soon. At least, no matter what, I'll give you art of some kind with every post.

See ya soon...

Where Are We? What's Next?

So, here is where we left off:


Magazine picture mounted on book board and diffused with Nevr-Dull.

Now, after this step, I was not so much practicing avoidance behavior as I was working and messing up! I tried a bit of gesso and hated it so wiped it off immediately. Next, I tried a little flesh colored acrylic but - - o-o-oh, too yellow:

(I might do something to this version sometime but as of now -- I don't like it.)

By now, I was disillusioned with no vision on the horizon. That's when I began practicing avoidance behavior. I didn't want to face it.

Finally, I decided to make a copy of the image on matte photo paper. That freed me to try something else. Sharon and I both saw a sort of hooded piece on her (thanks, Sharon for your comment) so that is the direction I went this time. First I drew in some guide lines for the hood/headress:

[Note: If you are reading this post on Facebook, you'll have to go to my blog to see the videos.]

Oh, yeah, I decided I couldn't make creative drawing decisions and talk at the same time so I hope you like the music I was listening to while I was doing this drawing and painting. I painted in a base for the hood with white gesso:

Next, I had an idea for a lace insert in her hood. I used a real piece of lace, a stipple brush, and Golden's Paynes Gray Liquid Acrylic: (Pardon the fuzziness of the closeups on this one -- I forgot that I had zoomed the lens.)

A-A-A-K-K-K-KKKK!!!! "the &*^$^#% camcorde fell over. I've got to take time to make a sturdier set up for my film making. Anyway, here is the last few seconds of the lace painting -- the REVEAL:

Wow, I love how that lace turned out.

(Click on the image to get a closer look at the lace.)

Now, I have to decide what else I want to do to flesh out the hood and create her face, etc. I'll be letting it sit a while waiting for inspiration. Do you ever have to do that? Put it aside and wait until your ideas start flowing again? Usually it happens to me when i think I have to make a masterpiece . . . I don't know why I ever think that because I have surely yet to make one! LOL.

I'll leave you here and . . .

see ya next time.