Happy Birthday to Me and a Gift for You

(Coloring contest is now closed!)
Hello friends!  Today is my birthday-WooHoo!  I made it to 41 years! Sometimes that feels like a HUGE accomplishment.  Life can be very, very challenging at times.  I have had depression in varying degrees as long as I can remember.  There were many times when I did not think I'd make it this far-and frankly didn't want to. So, for me, 41 years is a big deal!!  I am happy with my life and myself.  I look back on my 41 years and see a lot of learning and growth, and that's kinda what life is all about I think.  I am proud of the person I am and the way I choose to live and be. It might not look like a very impressive life from the outside, but from where I'm sitting...it's a pretty amazing life. Anyway-I'm looking forward to a quiet day today.  I want to make art and spend the day reflecting on and appreciating the 41 years I've got under my belt. And hopefully take a nap as my good friend "Insomnia" made a visit. But first I have this for you...

I finished my coloring page-yay!  In case you missed it, I am creating a coloring book and have a coloring contest going on.  You can get the details  and your free printable coloring page HERE.  And see the second "kid prize" (which is ridiculously cute) that I am offering HERE.  And I made a printable PDF of my finished mixed media page/painting for you HERE.  Print it out and hang it on your fridge, cut it up into pieces and make a collage, shrink it down and make it into a postcard...use it however you like (just personal use only please).

 How I created my page...
I initially planned to use some regular 'ol crayola crayons and color my page like I did when I was a little kid.  (By the way...I have some fun tips for coloring with crayons and  that I plan to share another time).  When I sat down with my crayons I changed my mind.  I felt pulled to make my page into a painting.  I wanted to challenge myself to take this simple coloring page and get a little more creative with it.  I printed my page onto some lightweight watercolor paper that was not heavily textured (just some cheapie stuff from the Michael's kids art section).  I started with watercolors, adding color to everything but the hand shape (which I painted with gold acrylic paint).  I then deepened some areas of color with colored pencils (I am madly in love with Prismacolor Premier pencils!!)   Initially I thought I would use the circle shapes for written journaling, but ended up simply adding  an "Om" symbol near the bottom of my painting. I added marks around the border with gold and silver markers and outlined some of the shapes with gel pens.  I named it "Hope Grows".   I really love how my painting turned out!!   I hope you enjoy it too whether you print it out or not.  xo

Time to Catch Up

Hello Friends!  Here's a pic of me and Buggle over the holiday weekend. Buggle is so funny...notice his "sleepy eyes"?  He was napping when I started taking my  daily selfie (well, almost daily).  As soon as he heard me snapping pics he woke up so that he could be included.  I swear-if he sees me taking self portraits he cries until I pick him up and include him.  Seriously!  He'll even get up from a nap to be in the pics!  He is such a character!!

***New "DONATE" button!!!***  I added a donate button for anyone who wants to support my art making.  Donations are totally optional, so please feel no obligation to contribute.  However, if you do wish to support my art...you can donate any amount.  Believe me every little bit helps-even a dollar can buy something-like a bottle of craft paint for example.  So, if you wish to help-know that any amount is appreciated and will be put to good use.  The donate button will allow you to make donations via PayPal.

Here's a pic of me at Mt. Soledad over the weekend.  I hadn't been in years.  It is such a beautiful panoramic view of San Diego.  By the way...I sewed the skirt myself and even dyed the fabric!  Is 40 too old for a giant hair bow?  LOL   I actually don't care about such things.  I remember awhile back someone on Facebook took the time to post about "woman who wear pj bottoms to Starbucks".  It made me sad to read it and all the responses...so judgmental.  Why does it matter what a woman wears to Starbucks?!?  Who gets to decide all these "rules" about what kind of clothing makes a woman "acceptable".  Wouldn't our energy be better spent working on accepting others and focusing on what really matters...kindness, respect, good manners, etc?  Why do some people feel the need to pick apart others like that?  A lot of people say it's what is on the inside that matters, well-if that's true then why are we hearing so much of this judgmental crap?  Why do so few people practice not "judging a book by it's cover"?  I could continue this rant all day, but that's not a good use of my time or energy.  So...back to happy things!

Next on our list of things to catch up on...the sculpture!!   I started this sculpture a few months ago.  I recently finished the sculpting part of the project and am very pleased with the result!!  The sculpture is made of paper mache with a couple of layers of a handmade "clay" over the top.  I started with a clay recipe I found online, but ended up coming up with my own recipe to suit my needs. This was my first time trying this process.  It was far more time consuming than I anticipated, but the result was well  worth it.  The sculpture is "life size", almost 3 feet tall and very solid.  It weighs at least 25 lbs.  I managed to get a nice smooth surface (which is what I wanted) but it took a lot of doing.  I will definitely continue working with this medium and have lots more ideas to bring to life.   Here are a few pics of the finished sculpture before I started the painting part of the project. 

 And here are the early stages of the painting part of the sculpture.  I am painting with acrylics and working in layers.  This is the first few layers of paint.  In the end the sculpture will be covered in flowers and leaves-a wild colorful garden.  I am soooooo excited to get going on the next layer!! Twice a year the San Diego Watercolor Society has an "experimental" show.  Normally there are strict rules as to which surfaces are allowed, etc.  During experimental shows the rules are less strict.  So...I'm hoping to finish by the end of August so that I can enter the sculpture in the September gallery show.  So far as I know, no one has ever entered anything like this.  It will be a lot of fun to bring something so different to the gallery!!  I have a few other projects going with deadlines, so it's going to be a VERY busy couple of months.  Wish me luck on staying on track!!

 And finally...a recent art journal page.  With the start of the MBSR course-mindfulness has been on my mind.  I painted a Buddha as a reminder to be mindful.  Unfortunately I did terribly with keeping up with the course for the first week...in fact, so bad that I decided to start over with the course this week.  Last week was a holiday week and very very busy, so I think the timing was bad.  I could carry on with week two, but I think I'll get more out of it if I get a more solid footing to begin with.  And with my "30 Days of Getting Shit Done"-same thing, didn't accomplish anywhere near what I'd hoped.  So...getting back on course with that today as well.  It's "okay" to "fail", but important not to give up simply because something is difficult.

"Wanting", Feeling Stuck, and Symbolism

Hello Dear Friends! I just finished a painting today that I want to share with you.  I will be submitting it to the San Diego Watercolor Society gallery this weekend for the monthly juried show (wish me luck!)  This one is titled "Wanting". It is done in mixed media on paper and  measures 20" x 22".  Price is $575 framed.  I am very pleased with how this one turned out!!

I really had to work for this one.  I did some of the work on this piece during a spell of depression.  When I started the piece I was feeling okay, but halfway through...I was hit with a very, very deep depression. The depression pretty much murdered my inspiration.  It is rare for me to lack inspiration or drive to make art, so it was pretty painful to experience that while creating this painting. I really had to push, to force myself, to keep going.  Fortunately the depression (slowly) lifted and inspiration returned, but it was rough going for a bit. I started the flowers during that rough spot. I ended up pushing through that feeling of "stuckness" and coming up with something beautiful (...beautiful to me anyway).  I experimented and used totally new (or "new to me") techniques and materials for the flowers.  I really felt like my ability to create took a leap forward during that experimentation process. That perseverance, that determination to keep going despite the oppressive force that is depression...I ended up expanding my skill set and bringing extra excitment to my art practice.  I look at this finished piece and see my ability to transcend difficulties and my passion for art.  The experience of struggling to get past that "stuckness", the triumph over difficulties...makes this a particularly meaningful and  beautiful piece for me. I hope you enjoy it too!

Symbols have been showing up a lot in my art lately. For me art is very therapeutic and healing. I often say art is my best medicine-and truly it is.  Recently with the heavy use of symbolism in my work...my subconscious  seems to be  working things out on the canvas/paper whether I like it or not.  In this piece I didn't consciously decide, "I am going to work out some of my issues here in this painting".  It happened much more organically.  I felt compelled to add the various elements and during/after adding them I was moved to contemplate their meaning.  Not only did I end up with a pretty painting at the end, but I did actually gain some insight and clarity.

Symbols can be highly personal.  There are some symbols that seem to be almost universal (like a heart being symbolic of love) and some symbols seem to make sense only to the person using them.  I will share some of my personal symbolism with you now.  The hands in this painting represent yours truly-they represent facets of me.  The eye in the dark hand represents "seeing"...insight, wisdom. The gold hand with the hole in the palm represents that part of me that feels something is missing...emptiness, void, something lacking. I am reaching up to that part of myself that is wise and knows what I need and how to access it. For me flowers have a number of meanings...beauty, nature, growth, spirituality, and more. In this piece I feel they represent (at least partly) spiritual growth. You might notice that the dark hand appears to be dropping the flowers...?  One of the messages I am getting from this artwork is that I am looking/reaching for something (something "real" that is actually  available to me), but I am not quite catching/grasping it.  There is more meaning that I gleaned from this work, but I will keep some of that for myself.  I do hope that by sharing I will add something to your experience of viewing art-not just my own art, but all art.  Exploring symbolism can be very interesting and useful-be it our own symbols or those used by others. 

Thank you so very much for reading!! I would love to hear any thoughts that you have!  xoxo

Gelli Printing Fun and Freebies

Hi guys!  I recently made some gelli prints (woohoo!)  and posted them on Facebook in one of my art groups.  Someone suggested I scan them before using them in an art project-that way I could print out copies in the future for more art projects. Brilliant!  I figured that while I'm scanning for myself I might as well make a PDF for you guys.  So, here ya go! I would love, love, love to see what you guys do with these!! (For personal use only please!)  xo

Get your printable PDF HERE

And get the second PDF HERE

Thanks for visiting my blog! Please do leave a comment if you enjoyed today's post and would like to see more of my gelli prints and if you'd like me to make more gelli printables for you.  xo

p.s.  all of the designs on these pages were made with stamps I designed and made myself  :)