Autumn Treasure

Procrastination can take many forms.  Today I absolutely HAD to document the fall changes and exercise the dogs before sitting down in front of the computer to work for hours on some graphic design projects that I had promised my friend Marcella weeks....er, months ago.  And I desperately needed a hair cut (we barter graphic design for hair cuts, waxing, etc). 

Now don't get me wrong.  I love designing!  In fact, once I did sit down in my comfy swivel chair, I lost track of time.  And the next morning I jumped right back on hoping to have three of the projects finished before our lunch date...which I was late for...You see my personality is that I let the dread of the upcoming project overwhelm me especially when guilt is involved, so that I try to do anything else.  Then when I finally face the project head on, I get so into it, that I don't want to stop for anything! 

Dylan and Lex

Lavendar and Sedum

Chinaberry vine



Pretty New England Aster on our conservation land



New England Aster, native to Michigan

The next three photos prove how much Lex loves the water even on 50 degree days!

My beautiful Sebastapol Geese; Petrov, Rechenka, Boris, Natasha, Nicolai, Anastasia, and Vladimir

The point is:  Marcella's delighted and I still have some fall photos to share right here!

Back to Bucarestî

The title of my journal page is "Bucharestî Cart Horse".  I entered it in the Old Fashion theme for this week at Illustration Friday because when I visited Romania, it was like going back in time.  I saw men using scythes to cut hay, cart horses like this gentle boy transporting many things, and people who herded and protected the livestock in lieu of fencing.  I fell in love with the place...

Although it is one page of a journal I started last summer after my first trip to Romania, it is also a mixed media collage. For a larger image click here. I transfered my photo image onto watercolor paper and used watercolor pencils, vellum, sewing machine stitching, magazine pages, and decorative paper for a binding.  I am still toying with the idea of turning it into a paper quilt rather than a traditional book form journal.  We shall see when all the pages come together.

I have now been to Romania twice and hope that there may be more visits in the future.  My daughters and I have made some life-long friends that I hope to see again one day.  In the meantime I try to keep the Eastern Europe influences alive and well here in Michigan. 

Juggling Life

So this is my week 2 of being part of Illustration Friday.  For a larger view of the whole piece and the details go here.  Although I wasn't much inspired by the subject, I had a lot of fun with the piece.  I was toying with the idea of the different kinds of acrobats there are.  I kept comimg back to juggling.  Then it hit me!  Shelby has a fuill load this year as a senior in high school.  As head photographer, she is constantly heading to swim meets, equestrian meets, vollyball...you get the picture.  (I know this could have been a self portrait!)  I am always sensitve about copyright issues, so rather than chancing online clip art, I browsed through old photos I shot and came up with one of her playing volleyball at one of our summer picnics.  It seemed to lend itself to allow her to juggle all the clocks.  I used a digitally altered photo, oil pastels, a predesigned canvas, mod podge, acrylic medium, clock face chip art and vellum, pieces of magazine pages, and a recycled/upcycled tag from a pair of jeans (figure out where!).  Overall, this isn't my favorite.  I actually prefer one of the detail shots I took as a composition in itself.  But I am creating!  I'm also working on some new recycleable craft ideas that I'll be posting soon...

Learning Curve

Thrilling and Overwhelming are the best adjectives I have for all the tools and possibilities on the internet.  Today I jumped into the world of Flickr.  I should have been working on my piece for this week's Illustration Friday project.  The subject this week is "acrobat".  Not particularly inspiring for me, but I've determined to press on and trudge through.  I have to admit though, it's Wednesday and I have not completed it yet.  Never fear, procrastination is a refined gift of mine and it will happen.  Stay tuned...

 In the meantime you might notice photos along the way that represent the passion I have for recycling crafts and artwork.  In the photo above, I turned an old cassette case into a business card holder.  In the right top column of this blog are a couple of envelopes upcycled from a magazine page and a photo of my youngest daughter.

Illustration Friday "Proverb"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/creativedreamz/5014540295/I am very excited to post my first committed piece of artwork this week. I wanted to use Illustration Friday as a jumping off point to get me drawing, painting, creating again. I actually created a 2-sided collage for this weeks' subject. However, I am only going to post the first side for now. I used some photos that I shot in Charleston, South Carolina on the interior of, I believe, an Episcopal Church. I already had several 8x10 enlargements ready to distress. I used mod podge, modeling paste, paint, oil pastels, wax, and even some sewing and sanding. Let me know what you think...

In the beginning...

I signed up to be included in a weekly creative posting called "Illustration Friday". They post a new subject idea each week which is meant as a jumping off point for the creative juices. I actually signed up several weeks ago, but with canning and the Texas road trip and whatever else seems to crowd out my creative efforts...here I am.

So today is the day. I actually became very excited when I saw that the subject posting was "Proverb". Since you need a blog or website to link to, this blog became a necessity. Today will be my jumping off point. Wish me luck...better yet, Divine inspiration! :)