Score, Score Score!

My delightful daughter Jenny and her dish-y boyfriend Noah came over the other night and brought me a fantastic surprise!

The antique store next to their apartment was 

closing down and they threw out piles of ephemera.

So Jenny and Noah raided the dumpster and
brought me a plethora of vintage goodness.

Do they get me or what!

Life on the Coast

Ghost ships in the fog, Morro Bay Harbor.

From the Bookshelf

A delightful little book! An interesting introduction by Leslie Dutcher that looks at water color from an historical standpoint and then gives us a tantalizing peek into the styles of the dozen artists represented.

Each contemporary watercolor artist is given a short bio and 6-8 pages to show their work.  The layout is superb and the colors well reproduced, as is the norm for Chronicle Publishing. I found some of my favourites here including Danny Gregory, Virginia Johnson and Fabrice Moireau, but many were new to me.  I spent a very enjoyable evening with this new volume and I think you'll enjoy it also.

Beaded Journal!

 This beautiful beaded cover was a gift from a friend several years ago.  It's been sitting around the studio ever since and finally - one of those A-ha! moments.

It would make a great journal.  I searched through my papers and found a stack that I've been saving from Somerset Studio and they seemed the perfect fit.

Using my book making abilities, learned from

  Mary Ann Moss's Full Tilt Boogie Class,

 I folded, punched, stitched, glued and - 

Viola!  A beautiful small journal! 

 Available at this year's Art Girlz in Autumn in late September.

Spray Time!

Went down to the garage the other morning,

 put up the cardboard spray station,

  put on the mask, got out the stencils,

and  had me some fun.

 Using 11x14" canvas panels as the base,

 I layered and layered and layered some more.

And here's what I got!

I was very tickled with the colour combinations

 and the way some patterns peeked

 through the colours on top of them.

I'm thinking these will be covers for hand-made sketch journals.

Suitcase Saturday - Travel Score

View from one of our favourite restaurants in La Manzanilla

In 2005 we took a delightful trip down the Pacific Coast of Mexico to La Manzanilla, a tiny fishing village about 90 minutes south of Puerta Vallarta and 30 minutes north of El Manzanillo.

 Shards used as paving on the roads throughout the village.

 Folk art Guadalupe

We spent a wonderful 10 days, eating fresh (caught that morning) shrimp, drinking excellent Mexican beer, swimming, journaling, and a bit of shopping.

Beautifully carved lady in blue

We found some marvelous folk art in small shops and brought home some to display in our Mexicolor home here on the Central Coast.

Sunflower bowl bought from a strolling vendor on the beach.

And how pleased was I when I discovered that Mexican beer wasn't the only thing that was cheaper down there -

So were Lotteria cards!

Happy Fourth!

 
On this day of independence - I can't express how moved and happy I am that these colors and

these colors, finally are in agreement!

I've got Proof!

A month ago I posted about carving my first BIG stamp.

I've since been proofing it and re-carving 

 and proofing and re-carving.

Here are a couple of results on 12x12" scrapbook paper. 

 Getting better, but still some to go.

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.