Jewels of the East

New Shoppe Opening

2011-09-12T10:30:00.001-07:00

Here is the front of my new shoppe "Jewels of East"...I will be opening the doors for business on Wednesday Sept 14th...with a grand opening in a few weeks. It has taken a lot of hard work, but it is finally becoming a reality..."Production has never been a problem for me, but distribution has needed a lot of help"...Eastism #46 hopefully this is an answer.

Santa Fe 2009

2009-07-24T12:59:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We left on the 4th of July and stayed 8 days. It was great because we took my grand daughter Katlin (15) with us. Since we were traveling on the 4th of July we wore our matching Old Navy Flag shirts...lol. We had a great trip and visited about 20 Gallery's and several Museums... This Elephant statue is in the garden of one of the Galleries we visited...It is life size of a baby elephant and it is as you can see a fountain, with the water coming out of her trunk. I have more pics of the terrific art at this Gallery and will post them later...but this was my favorite. Why? you say, well I am very partial to elephants and I have a collection of over 2000 elephants.

This is my friend Susan and Katlin in the court yard of a restaurant that we went too, in downtown Santa Fe. It was awesome with lots of flowers fountains and sculptures.

This is Susan and Katlin in front of the New Mexico Info Center as you enter the sate. We got lots of magazines and pamphlets (we read them all...lol) How can they afford to give away all of that paper?

Katlin and I sitting of the fountain in front of the Info center...I also took a whole bunch of "Shadow" pics of Katlin and Susan here...the sun was in the perfect place for taking shadow pics I will post them later...I am going to use them in some of my art work.

This was a really cool sculpture in front of another gallery that we visited in Santa Fe, If you click on the pic it will get bigger and you can read the name of the gallery.

This is Katlin with one of the many sculptures that are just "laying around" the yard and gardens at Jeremy & Karen Thomas's house in Espanola just North of Santa FE. Some of them are finished and some of them are in "work". I will be posting some more of his sculptures on my other blog soon and you can get an idea of how talented he is. Jeremy was one of my former students at PCN and now he is a sculpture working in Santa Fe. He has work in several galleries in Santa Fe and California and get thousands of dollars for his sculptures, needless to say I am very very proud of him. You can find a link to his web site in the side bar.

Katlin is standing next to a sculpture of several "Bigger" than life size bears in the same garden where the elephant fountain was, we spent a couple of hours here because there was just so much to see in the garden and inside the gallery.

The flowers and trees were so beautiful, Katlin thought it would be a great place to have here Senior pics made...of course she is only a sophomore, so I guess we will have to go back to Santa Fe in a couple of years to take more pics...:)

BIG SALE IN MY ETSY SHOP

2009-03-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

I AM HAVING A HUGE "STIMULUS PACKAGE" REDUCTION SALE ON MY ETSY SHOP...BE SURE TO VISIT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UPTO 50% OFF ON THESE ONE OF A KIND JEWELRY PIECES...THIS SALE MERCHANDISE WILL BE REMOVED ON APRIL 1, 2009.

I have a lot of new pieces that I will be adding soon (you can see some of them on http://timelesstreasuresofleast.blogspot.com ) so I need to move these sale pieces to make more room for the new...I am really excited about my new line of Steampunk jewelry. You know me always something new.

Here she is JULIE ANNE #1 Great Grand Baby

2009-03-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

Here she is...my 1st Great Grand Baby...on the day she was born March 4th 2009...isn't she precious and pink....with lots of hair. This is my grand daughter Katlin holding her new niece. How cute is that? Yes I am a proud grandmother and GREAT Grandmother...wow.

PCN Panther Pride Pancake Breakfast

2009-03-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

The "Friends Band" performing.

Susan and Peggy (the Drummer)

The "Friends Band" ROCKS!

The "Friends Band" is Susan's Senior Adult Band and they always like to play at the annual Pancake Breakfast. This is a pic of them warming up in the band room before their performance.

This is Elizabeth and she plays flute in the Friends Band....Elizabeth decided when she was 52 that she wanted to play flute and so she taught herself how to play. She really is good and she has a great time playing with the band.

This is our friend Charya...she is the Band Director at Mayfield Middleschool...since the Tuba player (Bill) was ill, Charya consented to fill in, even though she is a clarinet player, she really is very talented and plays lots of different instruments.

This is Lynnetta VanLandingham and me. Her son plays in Susan's band and she is in the PCN Bandboosters...I am wearing my "Friends Band Roadie" shirt...I always try to go to their performances and cheer them on, so Peggy, the drummer in the band made me and her husband "Roadie" shirts. This band is really neat...the average age is around 72...except for Susan and Charya (when she fills in)...the band members always tell them that they ruin their age curve...lol...they are all precious and most of them are really talented and they are all dedicated to the band.

Congratulations

2009-02-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Karen Klomparens and Marilyn Butler for winning my drawings for the OWOH giveaway. If you will contact me at leastart@yahoo.com with your address I will send the bracelet to you ASAP...again CONGRATULATIONS! to both of you....

One World-One Heart 2009

2009-01-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

This is a Dragonfly Charm bracelet that is made up of glass cube beads and silver colored spacers. The Dragonfly Charm is approximately 1" and the closeure is magnetic ( which makes it easy to put on and take off) the bracelet is 7 1/2".

I am participating in the OWOH Project for 2009. If you click on the emblem above it will take you to the site that describes what this Project is all about. In a nut shell it is a bunch of bloggers that are giving away a piece of art to generate building contacts (other bloggers) into a world wide network. This is the 3rd year for the program and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

Above you will see a picture of the Dragonfly Charm Bracelet that I will be giving away. If you would like be considered for this give away just leave me a comment and be sure and include your email address so I can contact you, if you are the lucky winner. Come join in the fun and hopefully meet some other artist that are involved in this project. The dead line is February 12th to be included in the drawing. I am also giving away another piece of jewelry on my other blog: http://timelesstreasuresofleast.blogspot.com so for another chance to win be sure and visit there also, and leave your comment.

I think this is going to be a lot of fun and a great chance to network with other artist.

Come join the fun.

Bands of America Marching Contest in St Louis

2008-10-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

Here we are on the steps of the Arch in St Louis...this is one of out trailers that carry some of the stuff that bands need...you know...instruments, uniforms, and tarps. The big blob of people is the band...The Putnam City North Panther Pride Marching Band...This was on Friday morning...they marched in the Ram's Dome at 3:30 that afternoon. There were 56 bands competing from all over the US: Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Minnesota, Kansas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Arkansas. This is Susan, sitting under a tree at the river across the street from the Arch. She is the Band Director. There are 124 band members and it takes those 3 big buses in the background to move them around...plus a big big truck, and two big trailers. Thankfully she has a wonderful staff and a terrific band booster organization that helps.
This is a shot in the stadium just before they marched...The show is call "Escape from Dystopia" They finished in the middle of the "pack" at 36th. That Dome is so HUGE, it is a very exciting experience for the kids and the adults. We were all very proud of the kids and their performance....

Christy's Care Package

2008-06-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

Check this out...this is just some of the awesome "stuff" I received in a "Care" Package, I got from my friend and partner Christy from Fort Myers, Florida...The big sheets of paper are like 24"x24", there is printed tissue paper, pages from dictionaries, some hand made tyvek papers that she made, a precious orange box filled with all kinds of goodies(like flower shapes of all colors) a medallion with an L on it...Some beautiful tags she made for me with vintage jewelry, and gold "paint chips", A large note pad with my initial on it...OMG it was like Christmas opening the box....Thank You Christy...you made my month (which wasn't going so good with this total knee replacement thing) you put a smile on my face and a spark in my rehab...what a great friend.

Where The Green Fern Grows

2008-04-14T09:11:00.001-07:00

This is the inside back cover of my AB for the ICE in Altered Books Group Round Robin...We are mailing today and everyone is very excited to get this project rolling.

This lizard image was a B&W pic from a book I got at a used book store called "Book Trader". The book title is " World of Strange Animals" and I bought the book ($2) to use as an Altered Book...but when I chose my theme (nature) for the RR on the ICE Group, I remembered buying the strange animal book and looked in it for pics to use in the ICE Group book...Only problem was that most of the pics were black & white, and you know me..."gotta' have that COLOR"...so I used my gel pens to color the Iguana and write my introduction and instructions for my book. Then I sprayed it with clear cote sealer...gel pens don't always dry real fast and can be sticky for a while...but the sealer took care of that problem. These Flamingos (on the left side of this spread) are from the same book as the lizard, and so is the big shell. I used gel pens to high light the pink in the Flamingos and I sewed and glued vintage pearls on the shell pic. I painted the whole spread with Golden Glaze, then I folded down the page to make a pocket. I added some feathers (I just love feathers, don't you?) and some beaded fringe that has little teeny tiny sea shells on the ends. There are small pink ribbon rose buds in the beaks of the Flamingos. I made some tags with the words "By The Sea, By The Beautiful Sea" and added those to the page. I'm not sure that you can see the beaded/teeny tiny sea shell fringe at the bottom of the page....but it is there... I added pink card stock to the back of the shell pic for stability because it hangs over the edge of the page. I found the pink poka-dot candle in my stash and I always think pearls look better by candle light.

This page is called bugs...the back ground paper is some of the great paper that I got at the Flax store in San Francisco...and the big red flower with the beetle came from the same book as the lizard, flamingos and shell (only it was already in color). The feathers are Wild Turkey feathers from a hunter friend of mine, he teaches with me at Rose State College and he brings me Pheasant and Turkey feathers every year...gotta love that. The brass metal leaves are from a wreath candle holder I got at the thrift store for .50....I just cut them off with wire cutters and flattened them with a hammer. I just love 50% off Senior Citizen Day at the thrift store...there are so many advantages to being a Senior Citizen....lol....really!

I Have been "Tagged".....Six Word Memoir

2008-04-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

"It is all about the LIGHT"

"Lawanda" I have been tagged by Dawn Gold. Who is so sweet, talented and gracious. I am so happy to say that we have become fast friends even though she lives in England and I live in Oklahoma...Thank you Dawn (aka. Betty Boop)

The challenge is to use 6 words that could describe your life as you would write it in a personal Memoir. On the surface this sounds fairly simple, but it was harder than I imagined....I wanted it to reflect my progress through life and what I have tried to accomplish in my journey to the "Light". Light-hearted, En-Lightened, Light-weight, and Lighten-up.

The rules for the "Six Word Memoir Tag are......

1. Write your own six-word memoir.

2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration, if you'd like.

3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post.

4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.

5. Remember to leave a comment on the blog with an invitation to play, I am tagged.

These are blogs of artist that inspire me and make me smile......

Christy... http://www.averageamericangirl.com/blog/index.php

Gayle.... http://www.gaylepage-robak.blogspot.com/

Lori.... http://www.alteredartexpressions.blogspot.com/

Patricia.. http://www.coolcrone.blogspot.com/

Kris... http://www.artoutsidethebox.co.uk/

I could list about 50 more but the rules say 5... you can find links to lots of other great blogs in the right hand collum and over on http://jewelsoftheeast.blogspot.com/

Ella's Music Tree

2008-04-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is my grand daughter Ella...I had posted some of her collage art work previously, you can see it in the older posts...I am so proud to tell everyone that her "Music Tree"
collage won 1st place in the Mid-Del School District "Visions" Art Contest, and her "Flower" collage won 2nd place in it's category...Ella is in 1st Grade and this is the 3rd year in a row for her art work to win 1st place for her age group. When she was in
Pre-K and in Kindergarten she had her work chosen for a state wide exhibit...She is quite the artist.

She loves to come to "GA's" house for an "Art Weekend".... I want to tell you how I got the name GA. When my grand daughter Katlin was little,(she is now 13) her brain worked faster than her mouth, so she shortened most of her words, my other grand children all called me Grandma,(I have 7 grand children) anyway Katlin shortened Grandma to GA...and that name stuck. So, of course, when Ella (she is now 7) came along she picked up on that and now they all call me "GA" It is really pretty cool, and definitely unique. I really wanted my grand children to call me "Mammie" because that is what we called my grand mother and I always loved that name...but you know how children are? No NanNa or MamMa or Mammie for me...it is great to be "GA" Ella is so beautiful, smart and artistic. I snapped this pic of her on my porch, in her "1st Day of School Dress". God blessed us and God blessed her when He gave her to us. Ella is adopted and we were lucky enough to be there when she was born, and my daughter got to be in the delivery room with Ella's birth mother, so my daughter was the first one to hold her, and a few days later we took Ella home...now if that isn't a blessing, I don't know what is....

New Traveling Journal Pages

2008-03-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

Well now I have 2 blogs and I don't know which one to post on....I have posted my New Traveling Journal Pages over on http://timelesstreasuresofleast.blogspot.com because I want to start putting all of my art work on that blog and keep this blog for other stuff...So I hope you go over there to see my art work....

Nico in Oklahoma City

2008-03-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

We took Nico all around OKC to see the State Capitol Building, the Bombing Memorial, the Oklahoma Museum of Art. He really liked the exhibit of the "Chihuly Glass, I snapped his picture in front of one of the sculptures, and the "Paris Exhibit". Our friend Cherea went with us and I took this pic of Susan, Nico & Cherea in front of one of the optical illusion painting. We took him to the Oklahoma Symphony on Saturday night, it turned out that the Symphony was playing a selection on South American tunes, that was really just a co-incidence that Nico got to go for that. Susan and I took him back stage after the performance and introduced him to Joel Lavine, the conductor and a lot of our friends that play in the Symphony. After that was over we took him to Chili's for a "White Chocolate Molten" it was a sweet ending for a wonderful day. He really liked all of the places that we took him to eat, he kept commenting on how big the portions of food were.

On Friday night I took him to PC North High School where they were doing the musical "Fiddler on the Roof", Susan was conducting the orchestra, he got to meet some of the students that were supposed to attend his Workshop, and they brought their sketch books, Nico did a drawing in the book and signed it for them...they were so excited to meet him and tell him how much they love his Speed-Painting and how disappointed they were that the Workshop was canceled. He told them hopefully he will be back in the Fall and do the Workshop.

We truly enjoyed his visit. He is so gracious and so so smart and talented. I told him that he will be "Rich and Famous" someday....and he said.."I hope so". He speaks very good English, which was great because Susan and I neither one speak any Spanish.

Even though Nico's presentation was cancelled he still came to OKC and staid a few days with Susan and me before he went on to Long Island, New York. He is such a nice young man. Susan taught him how to play Guitar Hero on the Wii, and he and I talked "art" for hours. He burned me some CDs on my computer of his Movie and the making of the movie...he is now in production of a claymation stop action film for his theses for his degree...he will be graduating in less than a year and is very excited to get finished.

Heeeere's Johnny!!!!

2008-02-28T08:38:00.001-08:00

This is "Johnny Lee" he is a cute little boy Paper Doll that I created for my friend Dawn Gold that lives in the UK. We traded Paper Dolls that were inspired by a Paper Doll swap over on the Paper Whimsy Formum Group that we belong too. I received a precious doll named "Betty" and she has her own doll named "Boop" and "Johnny Lee" is on his way to Dawn as we speak.

Make my Day Award

2008-02-28T06:49:00.000-08:00

I received this awesome Award from my friend Gayle (a very talented artist). It did make my Day...and I am passing it on to some other terrific artist that "Make my Day" every day. If you want to pass it on to some one that makes your day...just save the award and post it on your blog and list 10 people that make your day. I could send this to a 100 people, I have been so lucky to make more friends through "blogland" than I can count. If you get this more than once count yourself lucky. Thanks Gail

Dawn in the UK

Christy in Flordia

Toni in Lousianna

Ingrid in Michigan

Baron in Dallas

Nico in Argentina

Lisa in Houston

Elizabeth in Kansas

Rick in OKC

Lori in the Desert

There really are at least a hundred more but I am only susposed to post 10.....I guess I will just have to make another post....yeah that is what I am talking about.

Serendipity's Journal #13

2008-02-26T08:36:00.000-08:00

Ella's Art Work

2008-02-26T07:15:00.001-08:00

This is a mixed media collage done by my 7 year old grand daughter Ella. She is a budding artist...and loves to do ART. I gave her some printed paper, stickers, stamps, fibers, a hole punch and a key and this is what she came up with. She really likes glitter (I wonder where she got that?). She is letting me teach her how to tear paper instead of cutting. This is a collage Ella did by tearing and cutting the paper. She really prefers to cut, but is trying her hand at tearing. I think she likes having more control with scissors than tearing. I just can't imagine where she gets that wanting to control stuff from....lol...I think she is really artistic...she also paints in acrylics and water color and loves to "just draw" with colored pencils and markers.

Nico's Workshop has been canceled

2008-02-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

I AM SORRY TO TELL YOU THAT NICO'S WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE RESCHEDULED FOR A LATER DATE.

Another Traveling Journal is on its Journey

2008-01-19T18:59:00.001-08:00

These are my pages in a traveling journal that started it's "Journey" in Bexleyheath Kent, UK, and went to Edmonton, Alberta Canada, then came to me in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and is on it's way to Redwood City, California. A journal is a great way to get a glimpse of 10 days in someones life. It is very interesting and entreating. Of course I always think everybody Else's entries are more interesting than mine. But, it is great fun and I get to use all kinds of different art techniques and glazes and stuff like that. I keep a few personal journals of my own also. They are kinda test grounds for the things I like to try in the traveling journals. In this particular journal, each participant starts their own journal and then sends it to the next person on the list. So eventually you get your journal back with everybody having done some pages. They keep the journal for 15 days and work in it for 10 of those 15 days. I think I need to relax a little and just write what I am doing each day. When I read other people's journals, the ones I like the best, seem to be just writing ordinary things and it is very interesting.

Free Vintage Pics from Texas

2008-01-19T15:10:00.001-08:00

Here are somemore of the great Cabinet Cards and Post Cards that I found in the Antique Store in Jacksonville, Texas. I hope you can use them in your art work. I have already used a few of them myself. Feel free to download and enjoy.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-01-13T08:35:00.001-08:00

Check out my Guestbook!

2008-01-13T06:19:00.001-08:00

Artist Baron Farha

2008-01-11T05:49:00.001-08:00

This is the art work of Baron Farha. Baron is one of my former students. He lives and paints in Dallas, Texas. It is very exciting for me as an art teacher to see some of my former students making a living as professional artist. It is very rewarding and flattering that they stay in touch with me, when you have a student for 6 or 7 years, you become very attached to them. Baron is a very talented young man and I am proud to still be involved in his life and his art. You can find a link to his web page, which contains a lot more of his work, in the Partners in Art column on the left side of this page. You should check him out....his work is terrific.

Jeremy Thomas Artist/Professor

2008-01-11T05:36:00.001-08:00

This is the work of one of my former students Jeremy Thomas. He is a metal sculptor and art instructor at the famed Santa Fe School of Art. These sculptures are made from metal that is welded together and then expanded while still pliable. This piece is one of his many gallery pieces. If you want to see more of his work you can Google his name and it will take you to other galleries where he sells his work. He is really an awesome young man, father and teacher. I am very proud to have been a part of his life.

Some More Free Images From the Antique Store

2008-01-11T05:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some more freebies for you to use in your art work. These were in the batch of antique post cards that I found in Jacksonville, Texas. Hope you enjoy.......

Nico DiMattia has a new Web and Blog Page

2008-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Nico has updated his Website and created a new Blog. You can check them out by clicking on his name in the left hand column.

Nico is coming to the US for an Art Conference and Workshop. The Conference will be held at Rose State College on March 1, 2008. It will be an all day program with Nico doing demonstrations in the morning and some hands on work in the afternoon. This is a rare opportunity to meet Nico in person, he has never been to the US before and he will be showing his award wining film clips and his Speed-Painting techniques with tutorials He will be sharing all kinds of tips for drawing portraits on the computer using a pad and Photoshop.

If you would be interested in attending please email me at leastart@hotmail.com for registration forms.

The BIT Department of Rose State College is very excited to be able to bring this very talented young man from Cordoba, Argentina to Oklahoma. The animation program at Rose State is a fast growing degree plan, and this workshop is just one of the the perks offered in the program.

Be sure and email me it you are interested, seating is limited and it is filling up fast.

You can find one of Nico's many YouTube Videos in the older post on this blog. Look in the Older Post on the left side column.

Got a request for more "Fish"

2008-01-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

Here is one of my fish drawings. This piece is Prisma pencil. I use all kinds of fish as models, fresh water and salt water, I choose them by color. This particular drawing was started in one of my art classes as a demonstration. The class had been working on perspective and I used the fish as an example of ways to place objects on the paper and give the appearance of 3-D. By making some of the fish larger and some smaller it gives perspective to the drawing. The pic below is a close up of the same drawing. The drawing was done on blue 90 lb. Strathmore pastel drawing paper and it is pretty big, 25" X 32".

2008-01-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

This is a pen and ink and gouache' watercolor picture of some iris....Iris are my favorite flower, for one thing iris bloom in more colors than any other flower. Plus my grand mother was the president of the State Iris Society in 1948, I can remember her buying an Iris bulb for $5 in 1945 and I thought my grand dad was going to have a heart attack. $5 was a lot of money in 1945. But my grand mother raised chickens and she sold the eggs and saved the money to buy the Iris bulb. The Iris she bought was pink, so that is why this Iris pic is pink.....plus it was hers and my favorite color. This is a large (8" X 24") porcelain clay wall hanging. I took a porcelain clay workshop where we rolled out slabs and then pressed shapes into the clay. They were fired with a process where when the clay is so hot it turns white, salt is thrown into the kiln and the salt burns into the porcelain making the beautiful brown colors you see here. I did some other pieces the same day, and I add fibers coming out of the holes. I sold them and forgot to take pics of them. But I made enough money to pay for the workshop and the supplies.....can't beat a deal like that and it was a fun and educational experience.

Some of my Drawings and Paintings

2008-01-08T05:48:00.001-08:00

This is a multi media drawing using Prisma Pencils and markers. Like several of my drawings this began as a demonstration piece for my drawing class. I always like to work right along with my students, so I usually give a short lecture on how-to and then do a demonstration. The kids seem to like that. I never try to teach something to my students that I wouldn't do my self. This piece was just a drawing from my imagination. It almost was like a "doodle" gone wild. lol It is fairly large 24" X 36" unframed. This is a Tiger Fish done in pen and ink and then water colored. The "dots" in the back ground are my finger prints. The fish was drawn in pencil and then masked off, the wet on wet back ground was done and the mask removed, I then drew the details of the fish with pen and ink and water colored the fish using gouache' (opaque) watercolors. I use gouache' a lot. I like the fluidness (is that a word?) of the paint, because it has all of the benefits of watercolor yet it is opaque. I'm not sure that all makes sense but I do love gouache' It is 20" X 26" matted and framed.

A Collage and a Print

2008-01-08T05:27:00.001-08:00

When we remodeled the house, we needed something that went with our color scheme, Red, Black, Grey and Silver, so I made this collage to hang over the fireplace. It has hand made papers, mirrors and metal. It is 20" X 31" matted and framed. This is a wood cut print. Every color is a different wood cut and it represents a pass through the press. This particular piece was done in a workshop at the Fall Adult Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. The sketches were done during an evening performance of a string quartet. We did 1 minute thumb nail sketches and then we took these back to the studio the next morning and did the drawings on the wood plates, then we carved the plates and inked them up and printed them on mulberry paper. Sometimes a print can be very intricate and there might be 100 passes through the press. It is pretty involved but the end result is worth it. It is 20" X 20" matted and framed

Somemore FeltedArt Work

2008-01-07T16:11:00.001-08:00

This piece is called "Family Shield" it is "wet" felted, the light and dark felt are the natural wool, the colored parts are wool that I dyed especially for this piece. It took me over a week to work out the thumb nail sketches and then a couple more days to make a drawing that was the actual size of the work. 19" wide X 31" long. The round part in the center represents the "Shield" the other colors that appear to hang down from the shield represent feathers. The fringe at the bottom is wool yarn dyed to match the wool. Once the felting was complete I added the yarn fringe and the embellishments of real feathers, beading and embroidery. I don't mean to turn this into a tutorial but I will give a little info about the wet felting process. Once the wool is dyed and placed on top of the drawing to make sure it is the way you want it, then the drawing is removed (very carefully) and the piece is place on a piece of synthetic fabric (I like to use drapery lining) another piece of the same fabric is placed on top and the whole thing is safety pinned together. I used the bathtub to do large pieces. Then you put some liquid soap on the whole thing, run the water until it is pretty hot, but not to hot to burn you of course. Wool has little fiber barbs and as you wet it they relax and catch on each other. The soap is just to make every thing slick so you can rub your hands over the entire area. The rubbing "squishes" the little barbs together and the heat of the water "sets" them. Of course you understand that this is a very simplified explanation of the process and if you are going to try felting you should get a couple of good books to go by, the reason I say a couple of books is because every felter has a little bite different method. I have felted some pieces with my friend Pam Huskey-Lolly that are 5 feet by 8 feet. So you can make 'em BIG or you can make 'em small. Either way it is a very rewarding craft, and it is also very practical when you make slippers and scarves and mittens. Felt is one of the oldest fabrics in the world. In Biblical times the sheep herders would put pieces of wool in their shoes for warmth and as they walked the wool became felt. Don't you always wonder how things got started? I Do.
This is a felted Book Bag. The pieces of very colorful felt were felted first and then cut out in shapes and applied with embroidery stitches. The embellishments are bead and embroidery using all kinds of fiber and embroidery threads. This book bag is 17"wide X 26"long. I like to put the size because it is really hard to tell how big it is in a picture.

Multi Media Art Work

2008-01-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

These are a couple of Angel pictures I did, they are both mixed media, prisma pencil, watercolor (gouache') and pen and ink. The Angel Baby is a piece I did using a couple of pictures of my grand daughter when she was a baby. Doesn't every grand mother think her grand babies are Angels? This drawing is 13" X 13". This Angel playing the harp in the Wisteria is 24" X 36" matted and framed.

Finally the "Bird Book" is finished

2008-01-07T15:51:00.001-08:00

Finally got the cover done for the infamous "Bird Book", some time when you create something that is very special to you and a big part of your heart, it is difficult to finish it. It's like if you never finish it, then you won't have to let it go. I took it to Texas, because I was (as you know) going to give it to my sister-in-law, but I just need to live with it for a while, and she was so understand about it. I did give her my "Red, White & Blue Bird House with the Big Red Heart", she loved it so much she didn't mind that I couldn't part with the Bird Book. I will live with it for a while and then maybe I will give it to her for her birthday. It is always nice for people that cherish you work, to own it.

Finished Tags for the Artist Circle

2008-01-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

These are 4 of the completed tags for the Experimental Tag Book over on The Artist Circle Yahoo Group. This is a terrific group with lots of very talented artist. Some of the Tag Books are just spectacular. I haven't worked on my tags today because I have to mail my Angel Book, for an AB RR on another group, by Wednesday and I still need 3 more spreads before I send it off.

I want to thank everybody that visited my blog to look at the Post Cards and Ice Coupons, and let you know I am really glad you all enjoyed them. I hope to see a lot of art work out there using these little cuties. I will be posting more real soon.

Treasures from Texas Antique Shop

2008-01-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

These are some post cards with baby pictures that I found in an Antique Shop in Jacksonville, Texas. They are so precious and I thought I would just scan them and share them with everyone. There were about 15 postcards in a zip sandwich bag, and everything in a big basket was 50% off.

I also found the ICE COUPON book in the same basket. There was no date on the book, but I can remember when I was 4 years old (1945) that the ice man delivered ice to our house and my mother gave him a coupon of some sort for the ice. I wonder if it could be the same kind as she used, we lived in Altus, Oklahoma in a house my Grand Father built (behind the house that my grand parents lived in), for my mother, brother and me to live in while my Dad was gone to War. My Dad was in the Navy.

Feel free to copy these images to use in your art work, I hope you enjoy them. I will be posting some more of the pictures later so check back next week and see what else I found.

Catching up on Posts

2008-01-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Haven't had much time for making Art or posting to my blog in over a week, just too much family Christmas and New Year Celebrating going on. But we are back home now and I am getting back on task. Still have a lot of work to do in getting Nico DaMittia from Argentina to Oklahoma for his workshop on March 1st, but I have set aside some "My Art Time" before school starts back up. Can't wait to work on my Angel AB for my RR group. It is coming along and will post some pics in the next couple of days. Also am working on the Experimental Tag Book for the Artist Circle group. I am looking forward to getting the next traveling Journal from Serendipity, they are so much fun, it is a real treat to read all of the entries from the other journalers (is that a word?). Lots to do, so signing off for today. Be back shortly with new Art Picks..................Linda

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2008-01-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Susan helped Ella unwrap one of her "many" gifts, but I think she loved the horses that Susan gave her the best. A great and blessed time was had by each and everyone of us.

On Christmas Morning we went to my daughter Kathy's and had breakfast and gifts with them. These are my two youngest grand daughters. Ella and Katlin. They loved all of their gifts. They are just tooooooooooo cute for words. Ella is 6 and Katlin is 13. This is Kathy and Cindy opening their Christmas Basket (Dinner and a Movie form Susan and Me) all of my Big Kids loved the baskets. A very Merry Christmas was had by all.

We had a great time on Christmas Eve after church with Susan's brother Don and his partner Joel and their Sheltie, Shadow. We had dinner and exchanged gifts before we went back to church for the late service. I got a $100 gift certificate to Hobby Lobby (yippeeee).

New Years Day 2008

2008-01-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Susan, Chelsea and Bryan. Susan and Chelsea have a lot to talk about since Susan got her Masters in Coral Conducting at Hardin Simmons where Chelsea is studying Vocal Music.

Our Carin Terriers, Georgia, Marilyn (she is blonde you know) and Stigiletz are more than ready to go home to Oklahoma................

My beautiful grand daughter Chelsea, she is so excitied because she gets her braces off in 2 months, she doesn't think a "College Girl" should still be wearing braces...............

My son and precious Sister-in-law- and her cute dog Abby.

A Great Way To Start the New Year

2008-01-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

These are not a couple of young movie stars, they are my oldest two grand children. We were in Texas for the New Year Holiday and the "kids" were home from college for the holidays. Bryan is a Senior at Texas Tech where he is studying to be a History Teacher and Basketball coach and Chelsea is a Freshman at Hardin Simmons U, studying Voice. They are my son Bill"s children. How great is that. They just grow up toooooo fast.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-26T10:05:00.000-08:00

These are religious symbols used at church for the Christmas season. I made them for the Christmas Tree that graces the entry to the sanctuary of our church this time of year. They are made from white felt, gold metallic trims and a few sequins.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-26T07:22:00.001-08:00

The Ponsettias were so beautiful this year. I just had to take some pics of them to share with you all. The church was decorated with hanging greenery, big red bows and Ponsettias.

Christmas Baskets

2007-12-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of the baskets that I make for my kids now that they have "out grown" their Stockings.

I just get plain baskets and embellish them, then I add a gift certificate for dinner, a warming plate with candle, popcorn, 2 liter pop (of their choice) a movie gift card, their favorite candy and a couple of new kitchen towels. They love it, so a new tradition (the last 3 years) has been established. And I really enjoy putting these together for them.

Look What We Are Getting for Christmas

2007-12-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

We are getting a little snow for Christmas.......it probably won't last long. We don't normally have snow and ice here in Oklahoma before Janurary, so this is kinda wild. But it is beautiful and the kids love it.

I know it is not as much as other's have up North, but for some reason after living in Oklahoma for 40 years I sorta think about this being a southern state. LOL Anyway, it is beautiful and we can sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", not as good as Bing Crosby but we have a great time singing.

Vintage Christmas Stickers

2007-12-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

Here are some Vintage Christmas Stickers that I found today in the wrapping supplies. My roommates mother had a box of Christmas wrapping paper (flat fold), ribbon and tags up in the attic. We had gotten down the old Christmas ornaments that Susan's family had used when she was a child and there was this box marked "Xmas Paper". Boy, was I excited when I found these stickers. They are the kind you have to lick. They are at least from the late 50s. I want to share them with anyone that would like to save and print for their own use. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Christmas Traditions

2007-12-15T08:05:00.000-08:00

The pics of the final step "dry brushing" are now posted with the other altered tags on the December 4th Post. Just go to the post list in the left hand column and click on the altered tags post and you will find them there in all their glory.

I am making my infamous "Christmas Baskets" for my family members today and will post some pics of them later today or tomorrow. My kids have always loved their stockings better than their gifts on Christmas morning (after the sausage & egg casserole breakfast of course). It has been our tradition for everyone to bring "Stocking Stuffers" for everyone and fill the Huge Stockings (30" x 20") with all kinds of goodies and small gifts. Of course the grand kids stockings are larger. Since we are all so scattered now and we go to each others homes it is easier for me to make baskets containing all kinds of fun gifts. This year's baskets are an "evening" on mom. They have a restaurant gift card, (Johnny Carinos) a Blockbuster gift card, a 2 liter Soda Pop, a package of micro popcorn, a loaf of specialty bread (home made by grandma) a candle warmer, a jar candle and 2 kitchen towels (to match their kitchen colors, of course). I made big tags that say "Dinner and A Movie Evening Just For You".

It is hard to let go of old traditions, but as the kids grow up and they get kids, things change and NEW Traditions are created. The clue here is that we do grow, all of us, and we have to be pliable. I guess some people have a hard time with that, but the important thing is that we are family and that we love each other "unconditionally".

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday no matter what you call it or how you celebrate.

The Ice Man Cometh

2007-12-10T08:41:00.001-08:00

For some reason this pic uploaded side wasys. This is our spiral willow and it is a spiral willow ice tree this morning. The ice and rain just keeps on falling. Everything is covered with about 1/2 inch of ice. All of the schools and just about everything else is closed today.
The Gazebo is covered with ice and long ice cycles. Burrrrrrr! Baby it is cold outside.
No power for about 4 hous this morning, but came back on about 8 o'clock.

Some definate signs of Winter & Christmas

2007-12-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

First I want to tell everyone the reason I use the bigger font to send emails and post to my blog. I can't see the little fonts and I figure I am not the only one so I always use a larger font, it is easier to read. Duh!

Yes, Winter is coming, it is a lot cooler here in Oklahoma and the weather man/woman says we are going to have a "winter mix", I am not sure what that means but they seem to use the term rather loosely around here in the winter. The trees have pretty much lost their leaves, if they haven't lost them at least the leaves have gone from gold, orange and red to your basic brown, and so has most of the grass. I always look forward to the return of the "GREEN" in the spring. I do like for the snow to flutter in and cover up the brown.

Another sign that winter is on the horizon is the Winter Band Concert. The Winter Band Concert by the Putnam City North High School Concert Band was last night and the kids played wonderful. It is hard to believe that they learned all of this music in just a few short weeks since "Marching Season" was over. Mr. Illgen's (the assistant Band Director) Jazz Band played a medley of Christmas tunes, the Percussion Ensemble played "Christmas Time is Here", "Silent Night", and "Santa's in the House". The Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble played a profusion of Christmas music. Then for the grand finale the combined bands (The Mega Band) conducted by Susan Clothier (The band director/head of the band department) played "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and a spectacular traditional piece called "Russian Christmas Music". There were parents, siblings, grand parents and family members of the students and staff to make up a very receptive audience.The finale number got a standing ovation. The Band Boosters made some money with their fund raiser (Johnny Carino gift cards)and a raffle for an Eskimo Joe's gift certificate. The Marching season CD is also on sale and you know how those grand parents love to see their grand children perform. It was a wonderful evening of music that was enjoyed by all.

Susan is not only the band director at PC North but she is also the Music Minister at the Spring Creek Baptist church at 118th and MacArthur in OKC. The annual Christmas program will be this Sunday 12/9/07 . The program will consist of the SCB Chior and an ensemble of very talented musians (including some of her students, friends and her mega-talented brother, Don on the piano) This Christmas tradition is always looked forward to with great anticipation.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

This is the last of the Pages for the Altered Bird Book. The reason these are all in posts by themselves is because I figured out if I do a few spreads at a time then I could have more control over the posting. Some of the birds are pictures gleened from books and the internet and some are drawn images. I am giving this book to my sister-in-law for Christmas, because she and my brother love birds, and are avid bird watchers. I have not finished the covers yet because I haven't found the right thing to cover it with. You know when you make something that is close to your heart, you just have to have the perfect thing to cover it in.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T19:37:00.000-08:00

The spread on the left is of Austrilian Bird Mail Art with some beautiful German Bird Prints from www.collagestuff.com . Then I punched star holes down one side. Both of these spreads were done with Golden Glazes for the back ground. The spread on the right has a hole with a gromet where some "hairy" fiber was threaded through it and then I put a puter humming bird charm on either end, so the next page has a hummingbird charm dangling on it also.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

I really didn't start out to turn this into a tutorial but it seems to have gone in that direction. Anyway, these pages were done with Golden Glazes, and some stamping with old foam stamps that I have had forever. The leaf is the "last" leaf of the Orchid I tried to grow, to no avail, as you can see. But it dried a really cool color and it just happen to go great on this page.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

This spread was done with a picture of a tree, that I took at Rose State College, and then I got some of the leaves from the tree and dried them. The leave are dark green on the top side and white on the bottom side. I added some Paper Perfect and some wooden letters. A little stamping with an old foam stamp.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

These pages were done with some liquid watercolor that I got in the children's department at Hobby Lobby. I never dreamed that the pigment would be so strong. I put a coat of Mod Podge sealer on top of the color, but when I glued down the bird images the color bled through. Some time when you are experimenting in art some really wonderful things happen, this was one of those times. The pigment colored the eggs in the nest and I used some plastic letters that let the color show through. You may have to click on the pic to see the letters.

Altered Bird Book

2007-12-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

The page on the left has windows to the next page. You can see the birds through the windows. When you turn the page you cand see the birds appear on an altered page that has real (dried) leaves.

The Square that looks like a stamp, is my "chop" it is my name in Chinesse. My friend Nelda that lives in San Jose, CA went to China Town in San Francisco and had it made by a man that carves them out of marble, the stamp is on one end and my Chinesse Zodiac Symbol (the Snake is on the top. I love using it on my art work. This is the first AB that I have used it in.

House Book Description

2007-12-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

New House Book

2007-12-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

Back Door of house book. Front Door of House Book

House Book Collage Pages

2007-12-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

More House Book Collage Pages

2007-12-04T15:49:00.001-08:00

Altered Tags for Artist Circle Group

2007-12-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some more Altered Tags, the ones on the left are acrylic paint (Delta "paint jewels) just squirted it on, these paints are really cool because they still look wet when they dry. The tags on the right are inked directly from the ink pad. Used Distress Inks from Ranger.

These are some of the same (coffee stained) tags from below that have had watercolor added to them. I wonder what we are going to do with these?
I hope we are going to make a Tag Book. What fun......................

These are just plain Tags from office supply store that have been stained with coffee. It

is for a project in the new Yahoo Group (Artist Circle). The look kinda plain now but keep and eye out for the comming of the COLOR. Gotta' love the COLOR.

Altered Tags for Artist Circle Group

2007-12-04T00:15:00.000-08:00

These are the final process in the alteration of the tags. The ones that look "pastel" were dry brushed with gesso, and the others were dry brushed with gold acrylic paint. Then some of them were sprayed with "Moon Glow's Moon Shadow Mist". In the process of scanning some of the "glitz and sparkle" are lost, but you can get the idea. They are really beautiful. After the holidays we will embellish these tags and hopefully make them into a "Tag Book". I just can't wait to see the results because the tags that everyone made are all so different even though we all used the same instructions. Of course you know how we "artist" are? Individualistic? Creative? Independent? A little Crazy maybe? But boy! are we a fun group to hang out with.

Great day for doing something Artistic

2007-12-01T05:49:00.000-08:00

It is cold and rainy today in OKC, so I'm thinking it will be a great day for working on the new altered book, and completeing the last pages for the House Book, and making the cover for the Altered Bird Book.

Made contact with a couple of my former students that are now full time artists. I got the email address for Dave Dykes and sent him a note, got an answer back this AM and was excited to hear from him. He is a graphic designer and his company is www.newatlas.com they have some great maps (of everything) go take a look if you have time.

I have also been in contact with Baron Farha, he is a painter and living in Dallas, his work is pretty awesome, if you want to check it out you can find him in the side bar. It really is worth taking the time to look at his work.

It really is great to see these young people making a living and doing what they love, because they are so very taltented. I knew when they were in high school that they were going to be successful in the art world.

Starting to Alter New Book

2007-11-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

Started work on the new Altered Book for the "Our Round Robin Altered Book" Group today. I mean seriously working, had already torn out some pages. The book I am using to alter is a 1957 printing of "Look Homeward Angel" by Thomas Wolfe, so I chose "Angels" for my theme. The book has 658 pages, and there are only 10 players in our RR so I divided the book in half, and tore out have of those pages. Today I used Golden Gel Medium to glue the rest of the pages together, waiting to dry now, and I am going to put a drawer into these pages(324 to 658). That way I can put my sign-in sheet in the drawer. I am using a gift card tin, from Michele's for the drawer, but can't decide if I want to go through my hardware stash and find the right size knob or if maybe I should use a large bead. I have drilled a hole where I want the drawer pull to be and I could use a bead by just putting a screw through the bead and then through the hole and put a nut on the screw. We'll see?

Used some green leather to cover the spine on the out side, I cut a square hole in the leather where the name was, leaving the original name visible, then I glued the leather all the way down the spine, got a piece of cardboard the size of the spine and layed that on the spine and bound it all together with rubber bands to dry. The reason I used the card board was so the rubber bands would not make an indention in the leather while it was drying. I am using a brown paper bag to cover the rest of the book, because this book has to "travel" all around the US and the other players have to work in it, so it needs to have a substantial cover, and brown paper it "tough" stuff. Also it will be very forgiving when I apply embellishments to it when it returns, it really is better not to put a lot of 3D embellishments on a book that other people are going to work in. It just makes it easier for them and I can decorate it however I want when I get it back. I am taking some pics and will post them after while.

I have also been working on the "unending series" of "I Wanna Be A Star" AT Cs and will scan them and post them after while also. These little pieces of art are really fun and they are a great fill in thing while I wait for the glue to dry on my other projects, and the dish washer to get finished.

Of course posting on my blog is also a good thing to do while the glue and paint are drying. Of course some times I do use the heat tool, oh my! My grandmother always said patientence is a virtue.

A Lot Going On

2007-11-27T10:28:00.000-08:00

There is a lot going on over on the Yahoo Groups I belong to, OurRRAlteredBook Group is really rolling along, planning for the big 1st mailing of our books on Janurary 1, 2008, what a great way to start the year. On Altered Designs everyone is making cards and ATCs for Christmas, except me, I am still on my unquinchable quest to fullfill my destiny of 100 ATCs "I Wanna Be A Star" series. The 4x4" "Alice in Wonderland" page swap is in full swing. Everybody seems to be Busy, Busy, Busy, creating terrific art and having fun. No time to shop for Christmas Presents, but the PCNorth Band is having a fund raiser: Johnny Carino Gift Cards, that I think will serve a double purpose; help the Band and Christmas Gifts for my "big kids". Works for me!

Gotta Go! Making some ATCs you know. And get a Flu Shot....Booooo.

After the Thanksgiving Tornado

2007-11-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

Guess what? The Thanksgiving "Tornado" (or feeding frenzy as it sometimes called) is over and the kids and grand kids are all back in their designated places. We had a great time, there was a lot of eating, laughing, hugging, football watching, cooking, and singing (singing because it was my youngest daughters 43rd B-Day). They all left, except they left the grand kids, but the good thing was they came back on Saturday and got them. lol So that left some time on Sunday for Susan to "read" and me to greet my, to long ignored, Muse of Creativity in my studio and Play, Play, Play.
Below you can see some of the things that were created from "Play Time".

I had received my order from Paper Whimsy (see sidebar for link) on Saturday and it was like money burning a hole in your pocket until you can use it. I got Luminers, gotta love 'em. They are wonderful. I used them and my Perfect Pearls combined to make some backgrounds (seen below). What fun.

If you like them, feel free to save them to your computer and use them anytime you would like. Well got to go make art "stuff". I am just full of creative ideas and my Muse calls. Have a great day........................

Some more Backgrounds

2007-11-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

These are "faux" Patina strips on watercolor paper, and in the middle is paper dye and Perfect Pearls on watercolor paper. When I have scraps of paper left over I "alter" them and when I have enough I "weave" them all together to make a full page and then I can use them as backgrounds for tip-in pages for Altered Books, or as backgrounds for Collages. Plus they are just to much fun to make. I get to experiment with all of my paints and stuff. A lot of the techniques are from a terrific book by Julia Andrus called "Paper Transformed", (with a few experimental alterations by you know who?)/

These are Rangers Alcohol Inks on plain Card Stock.

These are some ATC Backgrounds. I used paper dye, Perfect Pearls and Luminers on watercolor paper. They will be backgrounds for my "I Wanna Be A Star" Series.

Alcohol Ink

2007-11-26T07:50:00.000-08:00

Just click on the picture to make it bigger, you know just for a better look and to download if you so desire. Yes I am sharing these backgrounds with anyone that would like to use them. You can see the gold stamping better when you "make them big". Just click on the pic and then right click and save to your computer or just seclect print.

These are Alchol Ink on plain white card stock and watercolor paper. The ink was dripped on right out of the bottle. Then when dry alcohol blending solution was dripped on top. These will make beautiful backgrounds for ATCs. On some of them I sponged lightly with gold.

Backgrounds:"Perfect Pearls" and Luminers

2007-11-26T05:17:00.000-08:00

These are 2 of the backgrounds I made yesterday. They are on hand made paper that has a lot of texture. I used Luminers paint and Perfect Pearls. The purple, pearl and turquoise is done on white paper. The pink green, copper and purple is done on black paper. The reflective quality does not show up very well. They are really "glitzy" in person.

ATCs and Alcohol Ink Backgrounds

2007-11-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

6 new "I Wanna Be A Star" ATCs.

A big tag (4x7") named "Dreams"

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

2007-11-22T06:35:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I hope you are with family or friends today and enjoying this time to love and be loved by them.

I have a little "EASTISM" wisdom to share with you for today. "Eat a lot of Turkey, you can never get enough natural trytophan, then sit down to watch FB and so to sleep and sleep right through the "clean up". Works for me! lol. Hope it works for you.

Glad to say I have finished more "I Wanna Be A Star" ATCs and will be posting as soon as I get time to scan them. I have been working on a lot of great back ground projects, but you know it just takes time. Also I have been "Gathering" for the 3 Altered books I am working on. I love "Gathering" it is very inspirational and rewarding. I get more ideas than I can handle at one time so I just write them down in my little "Works to be done" journal. It really helps to keep my brain clear to keep working on my current projects or I would never finish anything.

We have had some double edged (good & bad) news this week, my best friend who lives in San Jose, CA. has cancer under her tongue, but she had surgery yesterday and the good news is that they could remove it "all" orally. This is incredibly wonderful news considering what she was told 2 weeks ago when they found it. Originally she had tonsil cancer in 1977 and was over radiated, so she could not have any more radiation and they thought they would have to go in through her chest to get this tumor. But she got a second opinion (which everyone should do) at Stanford and they were able to do the surgery orally. This is a blessing because it was so much less invasive. She has a wonderful attitude and I believe this is a major part of the battle with any illness. She will have physical therapy to learn how to talk and swallow again. She is such a fighter that she surely will kick this round of cancer just like she did 30 yrs. ago. So this is a major Thanksgiving blessing for her friends and family.

Well gotta go COOK you know.

The Traveling Journal

2007-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Some of the pages were done with Golden Glazes and some of the pages were done with Perfect Pearls and Perfect Medium. I love both of these techniques. Maybe I should do another post where I tell how I used them. But not today, because I need to get this journal on its way around the world. Wow! This is so exciting.

The traveling journal goes on the road today!

This is my first traveling journal of my very own. I have participated in other traveling journals but this one is mine, and when it gets through "traveling" to California, Canada, Austrilia and Maine it will come home to Oklahoma. I can hardly wait for it to come back, even though it might take 10 months to a year to return. I think I am going to send out some more through another group called 1001 Traveling Journals. This one that I am sending out today is with some friends of Serendipity from California.

I Wanna Be A Star

2007-11-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

The first of my ATC Series "I Wanna Be A Star" I really am enjoying making these in between working on a couple of journals and my Altered Bird Book (only 2 pages to go).

Chunky Book

2007-11-09T19:01:00.000-08:00

These are the my pages of the Chunky Book for Alzheimer Research. My pages will be combined with the other 13 Book Artist that are participating in this project. We will each get pages from each artist and the extra pages will be put together into a book of "Memories" that will be auctioned off on E-Bay and the money will go to Alzheimer Research.

Just have to tell ya.

2007-11-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

This is Joe DeLozier he owns DeLozier Auto Service. Joe's kids were in my art class when I taught at PCNorth High School, they are all grown up now and his son is a teacher in Piedmont. His daughter is a nurse. I have taken my car to his for just about everything since before David died. The whole family have been really good friends to me for over 10 years. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and I thank God everyday for all of my friends.

I just have to tell ya about my great treasures that I found in the driveway at Delozier Auto Service when I took the car to have the oil changed. Every collage and altered artist I know would just drool. Of course Joe Delozier couldn't believe I would pick all of this "junk" up to use in my art work, but there are pieces of rusty metal, washers (some rusty, some shiny but all flattened by being run over by all the cars), rusty wires in all kinds of shapes, strange pieces of metal in shapes that I can't imagine what they would be used on a car and little "diode" looking things that have bright colors on them, I picked up 2 envelopes full of "treasures". Then I photographed some racks in his garage that hold spools of bright colored wire.

A Great New Book

2007-11-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

I got Julia Andrus new book "Paper Transformed" and it is one of the best paper altering books I have ever owned. It has over 100 recipes and techniques for making gorgeous paper designs. The photography and the instructions are awesome. Plus it has all kinds of great tips on journaling and altered book uses. It also has a lot of the traditional effects, like marbling. It has all kinds on hints and techniques to use glazes, paints and mediums. If you can't find it at your local book or craft store you can get it from Julia's web site. (There is a link in my partners in art links on the left hand side) I think it is one of the best investments I have every made and I have a lot of art & craft books.

Senior Night and PCN Panther Pride Light Show

2007-11-02T09:06:00.001-07:00

Every year the band performs their half time show in the "dark". That's right in the dark. All of the band members have glow lights attached to their shoes, hats, uniforms and instruments, then the big lights are turned off and they march and play thier show. It really is awesome. Hopefully a video was made and it will be posted on YouTube, then I will download it to this blog. In the meantime I have some pics I took, they are really neat, and you can get an idea of how the field looked "in the dark".

Thursday Night Lights

2007-11-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

All of the Senior band members and thier parents waited in line
to be introduced.

This is some of the Sernior Band Members
waiting for their parents.

These are the Senior Color Guard members, doing thier Miss

America Pose for me.

Nico Is coming

2007-11-01T04:38:00.000-07:00

I have been in contact with Nico this week and he is working on the Visa to come to the US in March 2008. Also got the facility for the workshop, it seats 250, that will limit the number of tickets that will be available for this particular workshop/demonstration.

Nico and I are very excited about this opportunity for him to show his work and get some personal exposure in the US. This will be his 1st time to come to America from Argentina. He is so talented and everyone I have talked to that has seen his work on his web site (see Nico in left column to go to his web site) and on You Tube are waiting for the tickets to go on sale. I already have people sending in their names for a waiting list for tickets. Since there will only be 250 tickets available, anyone wanting to attend should send their Name, Address and e-mail address to leastart@hotmail.com.

Jewels of the East

2007-10-31T16:33:00.001-07:00

The Traveling Journal

2007-10-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I signed up to participate in a traveling jornal. I couldn't wait for it to arrive. The rules were for each person to keep the journal for 15days and to work in it for at least 1o of those days. So I received the journal on the 17th of this month and began putting my "touch" to the journal. I really liked being able to read all of the things that the other artist had put in, and to see their art work and know a little about their lives.

I wanted to show my best work first so I did a page about my grand children.

I wanted to inclue some of my art work in the TravelingJournal, so I selected a variety, some of my "Shrine Boxes", some of my collage work.

A new book I've made calle the "House Book", some of the pages from my "Altered Bird

Book" I hope the next person has some insite to me by looking at my art work, because

it is who I am.

These are the last pages that I did for the Traveling

Journal. This was my first time to partisepate in a traveling journal and I loved

doing it. It was so interesting to read about other people from around the world.

OBA State Band Contest

2007-10-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

The PCN Band made finals at the OBA State Contest today, they did a really good job. It is quite an honor to make finals. The band practices a lot of hours and their hard work payed off for them today. Congratulations PCN Panther Pride Band.
This is David Humphreys 1 of the Drum Majors and Susan the Band Director sitting on the Drum Major Podium at a football game.

I did a lot of art work today. Got 10 ATCs in my series "I Wanna Be A Star" I'll try to get them posted tomorrow. Made some back ground papers today like the ones demonstrated in the new issue of Somerset Studio. It has strips of colored magazine pages glued on to card stock and alternating strips of masking tape between the magazine strips. Then you paint it with Golden Liquid Acrylics, then put glue stripes down between the stripes of color this is a technique by

Gail Russakov, mine probably won't turn out as awesome as hers but thought I would give it a try anyway. If it turns out half as good as hers I will post some pics.

Well it is 2:15 in the morning and I need to get some sleep so I guess I will go to bed now.

Friday night lights

2007-10-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is the color guard that performs with the band. They are really good.

We have a football game tonight and everyone is excited. The football team has won 6 and only lost 2. That's great!

Tomorrow is OBA State Band Contest in Tulsa. Sure hope the band performs well. They really have a good show this year and have worked really hard, hence their Superior rating in Kansas last week-end at K-State. Good Luck tomorrow guys.

Well I have just about finished the Traveling Journal and am still working on my Altered Bird Book. I am also working on some pages for a Chunky Book to benefit Alshiemer Research. I have just gotten started on my "I Wanna Be A Star" series of 100 ATCs. I like working on several projects at once then I don't have any down time when the drying process of paint or glue is taking place because I can just create a ATC and then everything is dry and I can go back to the books.

Went to lunch with Jackie from Altered Pages yesterday, we had figured out that we didn't live far from each other and decided to meet face to face. It was great to talk with a fellow altered artist. I was beginning to think that there weren't any around here. (In Oklahoma City) The lunch was great and so was the conversation.

Well got to get back to work. OMG! I love being retired, I can work a little and then Blog a little or I can even take a nap if I so desire...................WOW! This is the life.

"Hump Day"

2007-10-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

This Eric getting ready to go on the field. He is a drummer.
This is David he is one of the Drum Majors

Well it is the middle of the week hence "Hump Day". I didn't get time to post yesterday because I was with the band in Lawton, Okla. for the regional band contest. I guess the kids were really tired from their trip to Kansas this past week end, so they didn't march as well as they did in Kansas. But now they are gearing up for the state Band contest at Union High School in Tulsa on Saturday. They all seem to be pretty pumped about going and marching and playing well.

It turned out to be a beautiful day after the cold and wet days that we had Sunday and Monday.

I am really invigorated artistically today. Don't really know why, you know some days are just that way. Went to sleep on the bus on the way home from Lawton yesterday and dreamed about an altered book, so I woke up got a piece of paper and drew it, listed the colors and made some notes about it. That's kinda strange but I hear where it happens to other artist all the time, oh well, "get those ideas any where you can find them", that is my new motto.

I have been collecting pics for a new series of 100 ATCs that I am starting on when I get back home from teaching my drawing for computer games class this evening. Wow, when I write that down it looks like it might be a bigger bite than I can chew, we will see. I just thought that a series would be kinda fun since I have only done individual cards in the past.

Altered Bird Book/Traveling Journal

2007-10-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Been really busy with my altered bird book, I will post some pics tomorrow. The traveling Journal is coming along also. Having a lot of fun with my Glazes from Dick Blick (I'm telling you those people have every thing & great clearance prices).

Had a cook out at my daughters today, we had a good visit, and it is always great to kiss those grand kids, you know. The chicken breast were perfect. My old cat Pistol lives with them now since we have 3 Carin Terriers, He was glad to see me and let me pet him a lot.

Big storms in Oklahoma tonight, the band is on their way home from contest in Kansas and drove in to high winds, lots of rain and good size hail. Looks like winter is coming fast. The high is supposed to be in the 40's tomorrow. Well I would say that we are finally into FOOTBALL WEATHER! You know what football weather is don't you?Well that is when it is cold enough for everybody to "HUDDLE" up. lol Just a little Okie humor.

Halloween ATCs

2007-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

These are the ATCs I made for Liz in North Somerset, England......hope she and you like them......they are a lot of fun to make.

Friday Night Lights

2007-10-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last night was the weekly football game and it was a disaster. North lost bad. Its really too bad because it would have given them the District Title if they had won.

The band performed GREAT. Their show is complete now, all 5 movements are on the field as they say. The color guard still has some work to do on the 4th and 5th movement. The band has gone to Kansas for contest tomorrow. I hope they perform as well there as they did last night. It is Fall Break here in Oklahoma and the band always go to a contest at this time. I stayed home to take care of the pups, Marilyn had her stitches out today, she got speyed last week. Yeah!

My brother is coming tonight and so we will get to visit. There is never enough time to visit. We are all to busy it seems. He and his wife live in Texas. She is the best sister-in-law anyone could have. She would even make a great sister. He is coming to work on my mothers house that she has for sale. The hot water heater burst and flooded the down stairs, so all of the sheet rock and floors have to be replaced. What a mess, but he is bringing his son-in-law and they are making great progress.

Have a friend in the UK and I am encouraging her to explore her creative side by making some ATCs (Altered Trading Cards) so I made a few to send to her and I am going to post them here before I send them to her. Not sure the pics are too great because my camera is being weird.

Scarlett Johansson - Speed Painting by Nico Di Mattia

2007-10-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

High school Marching Band performs Leonard Bernstein

2007-10-14T10:30:00.001-07:00

Nico DiMattia

2007-10-14T00:41:00.000-07:00

This is just one sample of the work by Nico DiMattia on YouTube. Nico is a young speed painting artist from Argentina. He is coming to Oklahoma March 08, to do a 1 day demo and workshop. He has never been to the US before and he and I are very excited about this opportunity for him and my students. If you would be interested in attending, the seating is very limited, please send your contact info in an email to leastart@hotmail.com Tickets will go on sale in Jan, so it will be first come first served. If you need hotel accommodations there will be a special rate for persons attending the workshop.

Some more of my art work.

2007-10-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is a small collage that I call "MUSIC"

Carosel Horses in Pen & Ink

2007-10-12T12:37:00.001-07:00

These carosel horse drawings are done in pin and ink. They measure about 10x12" including the border. I had them printed into note cards and sold them in packages of 6. I went through 2 printings of 1000 before I got tired of carring them around and sold the last package. My brother says, "Your problem is not production, your problem is distribution." I whole heartedly agree with him.

New Altered Book Using Paper Perfect

2007-10-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

This is a close up of a page from an altered book about Birds. The light green texture over the words is Paper Perfect

This is a 2 page spread from an altered book about Birds. The light green area on the right hand page is a product from DecoArt called Paper Perfect.

House Book Front Cover and Back Cover

2007-10-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

The part that looks like stone (with lots of texture) is Paper Perfect from DecoArt. I love the things that you can do with this product.

State 2nd Place Champs

2007-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

My grand daughters Volley ball team won 2nd in state for their class. She was chosen to the All Tournament Team. That's great because she works very hard. She is #15 and she makes straight A's in her studies.

Now starts basketball, it is all way something when you are

13 and in Jr. High.

She is a terrific kid, of course I may be a little prejudice.

Artist Quote for today:

2007-10-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

"You come to nature with all your theories, and she knocks them all flat."

Pierre Auguste Renoir

Backgrounds for Altered Bird Book

2007-10-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Some really cool tree roots, I can just see some little baby birds peeking out of the holes.

2007-10-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Got some great pictures on Wednesday for backgrounds in the Altered Bird book that I am working on. My new camera is amazing Cannon Power Shot A630, it takes great close up pics. I'm not much of a photographer but I might learn.

Been communicating with Nico DiMattia in Argentina, I think he is going to come to US in Feb. 08 and do a work shop. He is such a talented young artist, it is amazing how he can draw and color on the computer. Wow! His web site is www.speed-painting.com every body should check it out. I will be posting up dates to the plans of the workshop.

2007-10-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is Jordan

This is Sabre

This is Lane

This is Daniel
These are most of the members of my Drawing for Computer Games at RSC. They are excited about getting

to meet Nico DiMattia(see below)

I am very excited because I have been in contact with Nico DiMattia, a young and very talented artist from Argentina, about coming to Oklahoma to do a "Speedpainting" workshop. It looks like it is going to happen in March '08. It takes several weeks to get an appointment to get a Visa.

If you would like to see some of his art work you can see it on You Tube and on his web site:

http://www.speed-painting.com/ check it out, it will blow you away. There are a lot of details to work out so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can make this happen.

2007-10-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Artist Quote for Hump Day:
"It grieves me greatly that I cannot recapture my past....I can only offer you my future, which is short, for I am old."
Michelangelo

2007-09-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well haven't posted much this week because I have been working, working, working and I am not ready to post my new book yet. The cover turned out to be a bigger project than I had planned. But that is the way with a lot of projects, it's all about the detail you know. Plus my cousin Jim came through OKC from Phoenix, for an overnight visit. Since it we the first time we had been together in over 5 years we had a lot to talk and reminisce about. He is a terrific guy. So this is short and sweet and another artist quote is the best I can do today..................
"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."........Claude Monet

2007-09-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Susan, the Band Director and David, the Drum Major on the platform. Robert, the assistant Band Director and his cuttie daughter in her band shirt

The 2007 Putnam City North

Color Guard and Jackie, the guard tech. The guard performed really well.

We won our game, so that means we are

3 & 1 so far. We will finally get to have our first home game next week.