Happy Birthday Dad

 Keep Them Flying 10x20"

Yesterday would have been my dad's 96th birthday.  He's been gone for almost 13 years now and there are ways in which my world has been a very different place without him.  He was soft spoken, could build anything, work on the cars, wire a house, produce gorgeous roses, cook an amazing meal and raise 4 children.  He and my mom celebrated 54 years of wedded bliss.  They met during WWII.  When I created The Pity of War collection last year, I was able to put some of my feelings for my dad in an altered book  and a collage about his war experiences.  Happy Birthday Dad and thanks for everything.

Life on the Coast

A walk out the Cayucos pier on a beautiful 

Sunday summer morning.

Enjoy your weekend!

From the Bookshelf

 Here are four delightful little books.  If you love travel and if you love watercolour sketches these are definitely for you.

 Diane Hollingsworth Gessler takes us across the country and back again with Very New Orleans,  Very California, Very Charleston and Very Washington DC.  Each one is a diminutive gem filled with evocative sketches and descriptions of everywhere you'd want to see.

From major tourist attractions, to those little out of the way, special sights that only those in the know can tell you about.

 If you're planning a trip, these make great pre-travel guides, if you're an armchair traveler these are perfect as well.  Delve into just one and you'll be hooked!

Spotlight Artist!

Easy Being Green  11x16

The new edition of Somerset Gallery is on the newsstands and my piece Easy Being Green is featured in its pages.  I had received word that I was accepted, but what I didn't know until I began perusing the magazine was that I'm a Spotlight Artist!  That means that an entire page has been devoted to my artwork!  Needless to say this is quite exciting!  This is my first Somerset acceptance since May 2010 and I've already been notified that I'll be in their  Sept/Oct issue as well.  Woo-Hoo!

From Blah to Bling!

What happens when you see a leather couch you love at a garage sale for only $50.00, but the colour is drab and boring?  Well, when you're married to the creative mind of Sassy Feet, you think "Wait a minute!  We could paint it any colour we want!"  Ingredients - 1.) Leather couch,  2.)  One quart Lumiere copper,  3.) Small jars of Lumiere Metallic Rust, Crimson and Halo Gold, 4.) Medium sized rollers for the base coat of copper, 5.) Foreman Grill Sponges to add the three accent colors,  6.)  Three happy painters - Margot, Destiny and I,  and 7.)  Three hours from blah to bling! Checkout the full story on the Sassy Feet Blog.

Suitcase Saturday

 And yet another of those wonderful reproduction vintage cases from Ross. (If you look closely, you'll notice a few drips of  pink glitter paint.  That's what happens when one shares a studio with Sassy Feet!)

Full of bits and bobs of games.  Gathered from countless garage and rummage sales, swap meets and flea markets.

Monopoly deeds and cash, cribbage boards,

bingo cards, boxes of Trivial Pursuit questions. 

All waiting for  journal page or an assemblage-

like Paint the Town Red with its bingo numbers.

Summer's Here

I remember when I was young and school was out.  Those last couple of weeks of June had a magic that seemed everlasting.  As Elizabeth Enright put it " the summer was a vast ocean stretching ahead and September was forever away."  All the time in the world to read, play baseball, ride our bikes.  No arithmetic, no science, no Catechism.  Just that utter, pure freedom, being 10 years old and standing on the brink of summer.

These watercolours from our trip to Mexico several years ago - 

where time had much the same feeling as those long ago summers of childhood.

Just Say No!

There is a new breed of pirates out there and they're not the swashbuckling crew led by Johnny Depp.  These are thieves that e-mail you after looking at your art website and then say they want to buy.  Sometimes they mention particular pieces in the first email, other times they just say they love your work and would like to purchase a few pieces.  When you get back to them with prices and shipping costs they say they have their own shippers.  The first time you go through this it can take a few more emails before you figure out it's a scam where they charge you for shipping, promising reimbursement and if you actually proceed you'll be out $$$ plus losing your art work.

I've been targeted three times, finally figured it out the first time, and recognized it right away the next two.  Several friends have received these bogus offers as well. It's always exciting when someone praises our work and wants to purchase it - but just beware, there are pirates out there!

Life on the Coast

The delightful, riotous herb garden of Heart's Ease in Cambria.  

Enjoy your weekend!

From the Bookshelf

On Monday I showed you my journal from a Traci Bautista workshop - well here's the book that shows all the techniques, and as they say, so much more!  This was Traci's first book and the one that got so many mixed media types into exuberant doodling and play.  Loads of eye candy, and dozens of wonderful techniques and projects that incorporate them all.  Even several pages at the back, of  stencils, words and images to use in your own art work.  This is a book that gives you permission to play! 




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