Life on the Coast

Evening sun slips under the fog and lights up

 the hills beyond Morro Bay Harbor.

From the Bookshelf

This book, published in 2006, predates Jo Packham's Where Women Create fame by a few years.  It's full of great tips, techniques and how-tos for all your organizing questions.  Included are quizzes that help you find out what type of space and organizing style are best for you, delicious peeks into  studios of several nationally known creative artists, and chapters devoted to different areas of artistic endeavors.  I re-read this recently and came across some handy tips Id missed the first time around.  If you're an organizational nut like I am, or just looking for some help to get started, this is a good volume to have on your bookshelf.

Marvelous Mosaics

Robin's restaurant in Cambria has
 a delight covered patio section.

And the tables there are wonderful pieces of art.

Stunningly beautiful mosaics,

amazingly colourful,

and extremely creative.

Whenever we go there for lunch,

we spend as much time snapping photos

as we do eating!

I am a Material Girl

 Margot and I were at the fabric store the other day,

and while she was gathering up things on her list,

 I was wandering around looking.

 I had my phone in my hand and suddenly realized

 what cool pictures I could get of some of the fabric.

 all the different textures,

 patterns,

and colours!

 What wonderful backgrounds

 for journal pages.

 Some of the pieces looked like mixed media art

I was busy snapping away,

and capturing all this beauty

Suitcase Saturday Score! - Victoria, Vancouver Island

A few years ago during a trip to the Northwest to attend a workshop with Nick Bantock on Salt Springs Island and Art Fest in Port Townsend, we spent a couple of days in Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. We did some sightseeing, had a lovely tea and,of course, managed to get in a bit of shopping. I had to be circumspect, because the suitcases were full of art supplies for all the different workshops!

There's a wonderful little button shop on Trounce Alley.  Margot stocked up with supplies to make button stacks for shoes and I found this impressive scarab (that I used in an altered book about an early 1900's archaeologist in Northern Africa) and these great palette buttons that I put on a linen shirt as soon as we got back.

Around the corner we visited a stamp and coin dealer where I asked if they had any old torn currency - I hit the jack pot.  The proprietor brought out several vintage cigar boxes (I know!) filled with old francs, Deutsche Marks, crumpled lire, British issued war money (for use behind the front lines) and lots of other fascinating pieces.

It was a treasure trove and I felt like a kid in a candy store. 2 for a dollar, I set myself a limit of $20 and had the time of my life deciding which ones I couldn't live without.

And last, but not least, these brown loafers that I picked up in a Victoria thrift store for $6.00. My talented wife Margot of Sassy Feet worked her magic and turned them into these cool copper beauties!

New Journal - 1-2-3!

Here's what I'll be using for my new daily journal.

It's an 8x3" watercolour sketchbook by hand book.

I glued every two pages together and then covered them in muslin.

After fringing the edges of the muslin, 

 I got out my Mexicolor acrylics,

and just had a lot of fun!

Used some techniques from a Traci Bautista workshop 

I attended several years ago.

 

Can't wait to get started with my Sharpie paint pens.

Used BIG number stamps to decorate the front and back.

Journal Pages

 Getting to the last few pages of the

 journal I've been using since last fall.

 It's one I made last summer using the techniques from 

Mary Ann Moss's Full Tilt Boogie Class.

 I've really had fun with all the vintage-y 

ledger papers and old photo snaps.

 I've put several bookmarks in this one,

 it has half a dozen valuable lists (goals, projects, etc.),

And it's the journal I took to CHA last January 

so it not only has all my notes from there, 

but also Tim Holtz's autograph.

I know,sorta geeky-fangirl, but I couldn't resist!

Thursday I'll post pictures of the new journal I'll be using.

It's full of bright Mexi-Colors and uses lots of muslin!

A very different look and size.

Life on the Coast

Nice spot to journal - foot of the Cayucos Pier 

on a sunny Sunday morning.

From the Bookshelf

During my week off I took the opportunity to revisit these three books by Rice Freeman-Zachary. They are all great. She has a wonderful style (those of you who read any Stampington publications will be familiar with her artisit profiles) and seems to have a delicious knack of asking the questions we all what the answers to!
The books cover art retreats, art studios, time (and space) management, the ins and outs of daily life as a professional artist and, as they say, so much more.  Many of our favourite mixed media creatives are interviewed and provide an interesting insight on how many different approaches there are - "what works is what works for you."  I found new things this second time around and re-enjoyed what I'd remembered from before.   All three definitely belong on your mixed media bookshelf . For a daily dose of Rice visit her blog Notes from theVoo-Doo Cafe.

Buried Treasure - Vampire Killing Kit

First posted on July 12, 2011



If you've ever been afraid to take a midnight carriage ride through the wilds of Bohemia, then this is just what you need. Your very own, personal sized Vampire Killing Kit.



During the 19th century these actually existed and were carried when traveling in the event of a vampire attack. There are still a few of the original kits out there and-of course - now many, many replicas.



Contents include a flintlock pistol complete with silver bullets, a stake, bulbs of garlic, a Czechoslovakian prayer book, a rosary, candles, a dagger, a crucifix, little bottles of holy water, holy dirt, and other vampire remedies, and an aged scroll of parchment detailing methods of extinction.



It was so much fun putting this all together, creating the scroll, making the bullets out of air-dry clay, filling and labeling the bottles and decorating the lid of the box(which I found at a thrift store-it's an old silverware box). And the final touch - two bulbs of garlic!

I'm all set for a late night adventure across Eastern Europe!