Sometimes Our Eyes Play Tricks On Us

I  have been tardy, MIA, gone or whatever life has brought on to us at times.  I feel like I have totally neglected yall.   So welcome March, where did your friend of February go so quickly and you even had an extra day to play ?  There is a saying about March ~ in like a lamb out like a lion.  Guess we will see how it goes out this year.  Although for us I can almost 100 % say the wind will blow.  : )

I  think I have mentioned before about cloud watching and looking at the shapes that so quickly appear and disappear almost as fast as it developed.  Still love doing it though, seeing the animals, ships and different clowns in the clouds.   I am still taking the class of Book of Life from Tammy and all her artist friends, it will go all year and so I probably will be sharing more to you all along.   Mystele was last weeks teacher.  I have only gotten to watch the video but again, Miss doubting Thomas here thinking WHAT ?     I will never doubt again~promise.   Well, almost never anyway.  

In the class we are suppose to paint to our little hearts content with nothing in mind and see what crops up and then go from there to develop our painting.  Well I didn't have time last week to do that but did get some butcher paper and alchol inks and played.  Just a few drips and drabs here and there.  Of course I didn't have the special secret mixture you are suppose to blend the inks with but I thought OK, alchol with alchol ink should work. So I spread some around on the paper then dropped ink.  After it dried I was so totally amazed at what I saw.   Now mind you I did nothing but drop ink around on the paper. 

This is what I saw:  Lips, a panda bear or koala bear, a dog, prehistoric hieroglyphics ( horses or buffalo whatever I guess when you lived back then you painted) and two perfect eyes one for the dog and one for the bear. 

You will have to turn your page or head over to see the upside down oldie but goodie animals,  which ever is the easiest for you.   And what is funny is I didn't see the panda/koala until I photographed it.    So what do you see in this page?   It is a tad wrinkled it traveled a bit and will now find a restful place in my special box I have for Tammy's class.  Now this has to be pretty special art to have it's own box and not a plain one either.  The box has flowers on it like Irises and butterflies. 

There you go I just had to share this with you, not that I discovered America or anything but Mystele certainly did know what she was talking about.

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today. xoxox

Cassi's Give Away

This pretty little banner is to Cassi's Giveaway.  A generous lady indeed.  Her site is An Artful Adventure with lots of tuts and pretties to look at. 

I know I sound like an advertisement but that is OK, at least it is not a guy marrying  a piece of bacon.  I know that sounds strange but there is an ad on TV right now and they guy marries a piece of bacon.  Sorry just had to sound off about this one.   

I promise you will  not be disappointed going here.

Here's the link,

  http://anartfuladventure.typepad.com/an_artful_adventure/

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today. xo

Lace and Paper

You know my word for the year is EXPLORE.  Now that as you know can mean many things but right now it is exploring in the art world.  Right now it is kind of like seeking it all and having fun doing it.  

Now bookbinding is certainly a trip I do believe.  I did not realize there were so many forms of it and so many ideas about them.   I did a little mini book in Zinnia's Artful Gathering last year and will hunt the photos of it, and I have just made some squash books.  No not the little yellow vegetable you eat, fun though that is what I thought when I first saw the word.   Those are both little treasures, pics a coming.   I file them on the computer and it is almost as bad a a shoebox we use to use to store pictures.  They are on the computer and it is truly a hide and seek game looking for them.  Oh but I won't tell you about that.

This one is a sewn book with signatures, not the kind you write but sew in.  I didn't have any chipboard for the front and back so I just cut up the watercolor backing of that pad. There are no backs anymore on any paper pads in our house.  They are now recycled pretties and they weren't even finished with the job they were doing.  I guess they were jumping ahead of their time weren't they? 

The only bad thing about this journal it is one  I am working out of now and I am afraid I will mess the front and back up so it now proudly wears a little coat of plastic to protect it.   I do hope it isn't the same as the plastic covered furniture people use to do when they didn't want anyone to mess their living room furniture up.  

Here is the front of my first type of journal like this.   Just kind of glued and played to my little hearts content. 

This is the spine of the journal with ribbon and some pearls and crystals.  I do have to admit they are not real though, the pearls and crystals.  This was certainly a learning experience and I though hey I can do this and was fun.   That is the most important thing  I think. 

Well that is my exploring today.  Thanks for  stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.  xox

Paint Over Collage

Paint over- funny how words reminds you of other phrases isn't it?  When I typed in paint over I immediately thought of sleep over.  Like when our daughters would have friends over, sleep and I do use that word loosely and lots of giggles.  I remember one morning and there were girls all over the place some on the floor, on the sofa.  I don't remember the occasion but that was OK, we never minded at all.  Now I have to be truthful here every once in a while I would mind, not all girls are well mannered and certainly act differently when not at home. 

Alright back to the subject, you know I stray a bit don't you?   As you might or might not remember I am taking a Life Book class at Willow.   This week it was Paint over Collage.  You get this face from a magazine, don't you know these pretty little models would get unhappy to know I did that to their faces?  Sorry girls I enjoyed your ad but now to recycle it.   Then you collage a page and paint over the face and add stamps and stuff. 

My painting over the face project always turns into bye bye pretty model face and hello whatever Annette paints you like.  I lose the face but then I guess I always make it mine?  Now remember we are not suppose to make these gals in correct lengths of arms and legs and bodies, part of the fun of it I do believe. 

I forgot to take the picture before I started painting, but trust me she did not look like this and she did not have this hair.  I added the vintage image to remind me of where we come from in years past and the cute kitty.  The kitty reminds me of Lulu a pretty Tabby we had for 17 years. She was the best cat, would greet all my clients at the door like they had come to visit her.  She would just sit at their feet and always would try to get in their photograph.  

Here she is all duded up.  It is funny how these evolve though.  I was going to put a flower, heart or something like that in her hands and lo and behold a book got there.  It was totally not planned at all.   I added a great saying on my page also.  It is so interesting to see what the other students do and how differently we all make our girls

I don't know but I think you can still sign up for the class it is a year long.  It makes you push yourself which is a good thing I think.  Sometimes we need an inner pushing, not sure if that is a bonafied statement there but bet you get the message.

Once again thanks for stopping by and seeing what is going on in my world today.  xox

Surfing

Hello and bet you think I am surfing on the water.   Nope, not I and besides we have no water here to do that.  You have to have some big honkin' waves for that.  Waves that mean business.  There were some in Hawaii we saw years ago, those were waves let me tell you.    That is reserved for Piper in Florida.  I think on down the line I had posted a painting I did of her preforming her amazing talent.  

I was surfing my cookbooks.  Always trying new recipes even after 51 years of marriage and started to look for side dishes beside the potato (yum) type. The pasta recipes that Eldon does NOT like at all.  The meats they are down pretty pat but the sides or go withs as I call them, I am always on the look out.   I pulled out a cookbook I hadn't looked at in a while and found one with pineapple.  Eldon's favorite fruit I do believe.  Remember I make him Pineapple upside down cakes ?    Well I came to a screeching halt on that page and thought TA DA I have to try this.   It had pretty simple ingredients so to the kitchen I marched like a good trooper.   Of course I had to change a little thing or two but on the whole it is a winner and a repeat performance in our home.

Here you go, I know you can't smell it but it was yummy.  I think I will put it in my recipes here on the side bar.   

Now tomorrow and Sunday the weather is suppose to be a high of 36 degrees so I can already hear my oven clicking on and saying OK I am ready to bake.  I know that is what you do when it is cold.  I certainly don't want to disappoint the oven now do I?

I have been doing some art work today and will let you see tomorrow, I don't want to wear your eyes out on here.

So this is what is going on in my world today.  Thanks for stopping by.  xoxox

Mary Green's February

I am not a contest entering person.  Well I did enter one time, one click for the HG TV Home giveaway.  My feelings are if I was meant to win the house one entry is all I need.  Mary Green on her site has a monthly contest and you create a page with the images she gives you to play with.  You enter and fingers crossed you win.

Now remember I entered on Artfully Musing and actually won one of Laura's beautiful ATC Cards.  She also has giveaways one a monty.  It is hanging where I can admire it when I look up from the computer.  Did you know we are suppose to look away from the computer after twenty minutes of use ?  I bet not a one of us reading this right now do that.  I don't. 

I have been thinking maybe I need to have a giveaway.  What do you think and what should I give away?   Something to think about isn't it?

Alright art readers  here is the sheet we were given and then what I did with the images.   You are suppose to use the pieces all or some of each. 

I kind of sort of modernized her a little  but had fun adding the lace and paper lace and button.    The text is on the background and then added some music and some paint to blend it all.  I couldn't see her hair well so why not add her some hair ? 

There you go this is what was going on in my world today.  Mary, found on my side bar had sent a note that the contest entries are due by midnight tomorrow so  I thought get on the ball Annette.   Just a fun no pressure art page to do.   xoxoxo

Close to Home

Happy February by the way.  Whew, where did the month of January go?   Course that means closer to warmer weather for some of us and cooler weather for others.  Pretty soon I'll be saying happy March, the month of wind blowing.  HA !!!!! It blows all the time here, but that is the saying March winds so we will go with it. 

 Isn't it funny that sometimes what you look for is close to home?  Now this instance I am talking about when Hubby and I went up to Yellowstone a few years ago and did see a few Elks.  Wonderful looking animals and just pretty good size I must say and certainly larger than our fur babies that we have living with us.   It was rutting season so we were  certain not to get in their way just watch from afar.  Not close enough to get any pictures, well if I would have had a super duper long lens, but I didn't so we just enjoyed watching all the animals.  IT is so peaceful to watch them in their natural habitat.    Now we did get close and I mean close to some giant Buffalo but that is another time. 

On the road to the south of us we were tootling along and lo and behold what did we see ?  Some Elk !!!   Yes you read correctly  Elk.  We didn't even have to leave the state of Texas and there they were, a lot of them.  The Elk were just grazing and doing what Elks do.  Certainly surprised us and there we went off to other parts of the western states to see them. 

Now here they are, I don't remember now how many there were but several more than I have here. 

I guess this big guy wanted to pose for me.  I was not the only one there who came to a screeching halt when we saw them.  

I had to show this one, beautiful pose of this wonderful animal but also our landscape around here.  It is I would say without a doubt flat as a pancake and the trees are the ones we plant around our home.   It doesn't look like the Elk country I had thought they lived in.  Now we have some Buffalo and Camels we found just recently living close by.  I don't know but I would guess they were shipped in.  I don't think they stumbled in here and thought ----Hey this is a great place to be I think I'll stay. 

Yum yum hay .   I wonder if it tastes like Shred of Wheat cereal.  Now don't get me wrong I like the cereal but you wonder what hay tastes like. Or at least I do. 

Now here we are fixin to test who is the strongest and lets butt heads a while.  No wonder the antlers are broken here and there.

The call of the wild or whatever you call it when they make their noise the bellowing sound they make.   It kind of makes chills go thru you. 

Now on another subject the Life Book class I am taking besides the Strathmore class.  I love these online classes you can do them when you want to do them and can wear your pj's if you want to and the computer doesn't care. 

This page is for week whatever and we are making transfers of a photo of us and apply a reversed one.  Now we were suppose to, I think , leave it the black and white but I just didn't like myself grayish.   I thought I looked like one of the Greys that landed in Roswell.   Actually I have about 6 of these under this one, flubs I think you call them.  I think this piece of paper weighs a ton.  I had to add a little color but did leave some of the grey.  The paint is thinly applied and some lace.   Everyone's  art  looked so different and is fun to see them.    Any who this is me with my Goddess crown on.  I really don't have one but was fun to do.  

On Roses on my Table this month we are doing how we are unique and  different.  I just played and did this one.  Really like Dr Seuss saying also and used some fun thingies around with some molding paste also.  

There you go what is going on in my world today in February.   Thanks for stopping by and see you next time     xoxox