So much of what Misty says here resonates with my soul – but I want more.  I spent a disproportionate amount of money to cross the country, thinking a different environment, with different tools & different influences would produced……….um, well………..DIFFERENT art……….alas – NOT.

So, little by little I have been playing – not turning any heads – nothing of any significance…………..dabling, sorting, questioning, writing………hoping………..for fresh.

I am blessed to be surrounded by influences like Seth Apter………who encourages & nutures artists into being………& am honoured to be a part of his blog this week…..you can check it & other entries out here:

I’ll keep you posted………….

Hey Nonna - what IS this white stuff anyway? (16mths)

working on first collage

create with.  Her first experience with PVA was very tactile as you can see from the picture.  Her mum & I were talking in the kitchen & realised she had disappeared…….such a funny memory of discovering her - covered in PVA……much to my daughter’s horror – MY first instinct was to grab for the camera – I AM SO glad I did.   The first collage she made just before she was 2 years old is one of my most valued treasures.  Over the weeks of February, we have been creating some ‘larger’ projects that have been far more intricate than miriad of little notes & drawings & paintings that appear as a part of her imaginative play of the day. 

1st collage (23 mths)

We have spent time discovering the different look & feel of various mark making tools – pencils, crayons, stamping & she has experimented with watercolour and acylic paints.   I don’t have any inflated dreams of her being a famous artist – I am just enjoying the pleasure of nurturing her own passion to create – what ever form that might take, now & in the future. 

We have played with creating colour wheels & I found this site had a great range of free resources that were easy to print out & use. (keep in mind if you are adding any kind of wet media, the print out needs to be lazar copy so it doesn’t bleed).  Kinda Art & Deep Space Sparkle are a couple of my fav sites (although the activities are for children a little older – I can usually adapt it).

The day she discovered sticky tape – about 9 months ago – a bit after she turned 4 years old – we had been ‘working’ in the studio and she said – Nonna, can I have my dinner in here – I don’t want to stop working in the ‘shhtudio’ (as she says it).  It was a first indication of a growing passion, which excited me almost as much as the priceless comment.  It is now common place for her to wake up & head straight for the studio, or for me to find her there, at her ‘desk’ drawing or colouring & sometimes painting (although I still enourage supervision for this)  – sometimes she just gets everything out herself.  At Christmas I bought her the whole range of Imaginisce – Enchanted Collection – Snag ‘em Acrylic Stamps for her & she is JUST getting the hang of how to use acrylic blocks with a clear stamp. (you can get them from Scrapbook.com for about $1!)

I feel compassion for the generation of women who are ‘choosing’ to have their children so late in life, that not only will they not enjoy them as adults, but they will not ever experience the joy of grandchildren.  It is an amazing pleasure and joy, sprinkling delights & sunshine through the day like glitter - you don’t know when the sun is going to ‘catch’ it and you are bathed in sparkles.  Like these recent little conversation starters:

‘I am very busy today Nonna, I am going to have 18 babies and they are JUST about to be born!” (hmmmm…….sounds like a busy day to me! LOL!)

Girl discovers Sticky Tape (4 yrs)

(I was reheating some left over Indian food for lunch & she commented) ‘I don’t like Indian food – I just like the yarn (nann – bread); not the saucy stuff’

Nonna could I please have some Mangoes  on my mosquito bite’ (mistaken for ’Stingoes’ – bite relief)

& excitedly recounting our shopping trip to the local shopping centre – ‘Poppa we used the alligator (escalator) to go up stairs!’

One of my proudest moments recently was when she told a complete stranger…… “My Nonna is an Artist – and I am one too.”

Anyways – I began this post some time ago & was determined this morning to finish it BEFORE I went to bed – & it’s 2am THE NEXT morning!…. all of this rambling I am doing about my grandaughter is all to say – it’s never to early to share your passion to create – start with a colour wheel! Colour is SUCH fun to share! (see the tab at the top of the page)

Mermaid - 26in long

WIP fairy - 30ins

Over the weekend we were driving up through some of the areas impacted by the floods and although there is wide spread evidence of the path of the water,  much of it is already receeded.  Although this picture may look a little grim – yes there is water either side of the road as far as you can see! – we were able to drive through here as it was only about 2-3 feet deep, & it was the only water we encountered across the road.

As a new year commences & I have hardly noticed the last one gone, I am reminded how quickly our life flashes by. In the process of my “SECRET” project, I have been reflecting on the book of Ecclessiastes and the Jewish folk tale of King Solomon…..gam zeh ya’avor. This Hebrew phrase, often mistakenly thought to appear in the Bible, means “This too shall pass.” Some surmise that it was derived from Psalms 57:1, but most Jews attribute it to a folkloric parable about King Solomon – here’s the story:

“There was a king who had the most magnificent collection of jewels in the entire world. It was the source of his greatest joy. One night he dreamed that somewhere in the world, a magnificent ring held the power to make a sad person happy, and a joyful person even happier. The dream was so real to him that he decided that he must seek and possess this ring.

“He offered a huge reward to anyone who could find it. After everyone else had given up their search, one of the king’s servants continued to scour the world for the magical ring. Finally, he too was ready to give up, when he stopped in to one last shop. There, the owner said that he, indeed, was in possession of this ring!

“The servant offered to pay whatever price the shopkeeper asked, but the man refused payment saying, ‘No, your king needs this ring. Take it as my gift.’  “The servant rushed to the palace, entered the king’s chamber, and presented the ring to him. Upon opening the box, the king found a plain, unadorned metal ring. Could this truly be the precious, magical ring he had dreamt about? Then he noticed three Hebrew words engraved on the ring. ‘Gam zeh ya-avor – this too shall pass.’

“The king was puzzled. And it took him many years to realize the true magical power of the ring, in time, he came to realise that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

When he was truly sad, he would look at the ring and it would remind him that “this too shall pass,” and he would be consoled. And when he experienced true joy, the ring reminded him that “this too shall pass,” and he learned to hold on and appreciate those precious moments of joy. Soon the king realized that this truly was the most valuable ring in the world. He lost interest in the rest of his collection. All his dazzling jewels and gems paled when compared to the plain ring with the three Hebrew words, ‘gam zeh ya-avor, this too shall pass,’ and he always wore this ring of greatest value with pride on his royal finger.”

Abraham Lincoln made reference to this parable in an 1859 address, and there is a custom among some Jews to wear rings inscribed with the phrase (or its acronym), particularly during or after having coming through a seriously trying period in life. It’s an apt tale for the passing of another year, with the precious blessing of our darling new grandie, Ariel Faith……..watching the gradual deterioration of my mother-in-law in her twilight years, some changes in our family living arrangements, acknowledging the loss of some of my physical capacities this year & the purging of long held trinkets & treasures & the timely handing on of various significant family pieces in preparation to move from our home of the last 20 years………the good and the bad……..material & immaterial……..this too shall pass…………. It reminds me of the rewards of patience, the fact that no season, despite how good or bad it is, lasts indefinitely and the wonders of the cyclical passage of time.

This amazing montage of 365 days of photo’s sum up the year of 2010 in about 2 minutes – that’s about how fast the clock seems to be spinning for me right now.

I KNOW this is a little ‘cutsie’ for my normal style – I made this little ATC for our Princess tomorrow from the ‘door’ images from earlier in the week.  She is just starting to enjoy ATC’s & had fun playing with my cast off bits of paper on chipboard.  I love this little range - it’s from the Prima  Jack and Jill range and it’s SOOOOOO sweet……..

AND……..the news you’ve been waiting for – the winner of the handmade journal IS – CINDY!!! Congrats Cindy – email me privately with your details & I will have it on the way to you straight after Christmas.  thank you for your support & kind comments about my work and my blog……….& thank you all for being a part of my art journey this year.  I appreciate you all.

MY CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT GIVEAWAY IS A handmade artist book I created in a repurposed vintage book cover, it is approx 8in tall, 6in wide & 1 inch thick.  It is filled with a paper that will take pen & ink or a light wash…….it should be nice to work in.

the cryptic clue is………….rsta fo tlmeeehhb…………..it’s a sign!!  I will draw this one late Christmas Eve – Almost Christmas Day here – to give the max amount of people a chance to participate.  It’s been a fun week!

 SO – the moral of the story is – that in this sharing & caring art world – many people go to a lot of time & trouble to create things, pass on knowledge, help others, share hints & tips, etc.  Few people however, take the time to write a comment, say thanks, or even acknowledge the source if they are using the material ………in over 500 visits in the last 2 days – there were only 10 comments – and some of those were the same people on different days.  In the end – as there were so few – I allocated each comment a number – those that left a comment on different days got 2 numbers – and then randomly generated the winner.  And the WINNER of the Art supplies give away IS………….ta – da - WENDY MC – who – among some others – worked out, like the lepers, that the idea was to come back & give thanks – congratulations Wendy – email me using the link & your box of goodies will be on the way to you.  Tis the giving season – but tis also the season to be thankful.  I am EVER thankful for grace & mercy.  Merry Christmas – enjoy the coloured torsos, available for all personal use, but not for reproduction or to be redistributed in any form.  Tomorrow I have a great collage sheet – I am just trying to work out how to upload a high res version & still have the blog page open ok.

I can’t help myself really –
I feel as though the artisan skills of the world are being squandered
by a disposable life manufactured for ephemeral needs
that produce a never ending parade of land fill..

I love anything that looks as if it has a hidden story, or a story within it – waiting to be uncovered……….. my treasures usually take the form of paper, fabric, buttons or bling……..sometimes a book with an interesting title or cover (regardless of the subject) - a vintage brooch or buckle at my local op (thrift) shop, a card of sun faded ric rac, or my all favourite….. a discarded jar of old buttons………….with an assortment of bits & bobs of treasure.

I am compelled to collect and surround myself with these castoffs,
waiting for a flash of inspiration
or a creative ephemeral inspiration
that will give bring these treasures into a new, continuing story.

BUT the day is coming soon, when the ‘piper’ is to be paid – and all of it has to be packed up & held in storage for a year or two
(I haven’t even TRIED to contemplate what it will be like living with out my treasures around my creative space
- whatever form that ends up taking!!! 
I think I may end up going back to my ‘black’ period of a couple of years ago!  I hope not!)

I am imagining large open industrial expanses, with soaring, skeletal ceilings, huge beams & columns, cloaked in light. 
I love the rawness of these spaces.  I love the honesty of the volume.  It echoes ‘fill me with life’

SPACE LIGHT

HEIGHT
   how I long for them……………..

I have just added to my problem, securing something I have wanted forEVA
a fully adjustable drafting table/board 
- sadly, it’s not a vintage one like this beauty,

but still it’s a fully adjustable pneumatic drafting table with all it’s rulers & pens & picked it up literally for a song – $50!! 
It has been there for some time & started out at $375……….I was just hoping another designer/artist didn’t spot it.  It has gradually been marked down, still with no one except me showing interest…….and today they had 50% off everything as long as you took it with you.
WOO HOO, I love my local thrift shop.  It’s all in bits at the moment but it will be operational soon.  Now I just have to make space for it!!
(exit – temporary plastic folding table – enter elite drafting table)

AND so – enough blabber – we have come full circle & back to my point!  AHHHHHHHHH – how did I get so much STUFF?????
I MUST, I MUST, reduce my STUFF!!
I MUST, I MUST, reduce my STUFF!!
I MUST, I MUST, reduce my STUFF!!
I MUST, I MUST, reduce my STUFF!!

Here is today’s give away

 included are products from darkroom door; kaiser; collections; Tim Holtz (grungeboard elements, distressables); Basic Grey; Cavellini; apart from those supplies – I have also delved into my treasure chest and have included hand dyed tags, vintage chandelier crystals, buttons, bottle tops, game pieces, scratchboard, various ‘playing cards’ of mixed type & size; some etched book plates, chipboard letters AND a gorgeous little handmade book I have made. (2.5 in sq).  AND WAIT………there’s more (but no steak knives!!), some blocks of carving rubber, some christmas tree blank jigsaws, a couple of chipboard books, a couple of note books, some of my napkins & a package of my handdyed wire edged ribbons….I will announce the winner tomorrow at approx 8pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time (GMT +11).  If you are wondering how to win – the clue is in yesterday’s post.

Today – some free images for you to have fun with – Tomorrow – hmmmmmmmmmm………some supplies I think…………HOW TO GET THEM???? I will leave you with a cryptic clue………you will find it in the book of Luke 17:11-19……….. that’s all I’m sayin’ is all!!! (in the words of one of my fav. Southern Belles)  If you work it out – leave me a comment & I will create a random draw from the order they come in.

If you right click any of these you can save the larger size – they are high res. suited for full ATC size background – or to cut or tear as an element in a larger collage.  If anyone would like a particular colour in a larger size for something – feel free to email me using the link.  This image is a photograph I took myself while travelling & has been altered by me.  It is free for you to use personally (in your own work)  for anything you like (including published work) BUT is not for re-distribution, re posting (please link back to this post if you’d like to tell someone about them)  They are also not for use in royalty free compositions or collage sheets in any form.  Thanks for respecting the personal property I am sharing with you.

DON’T forget to check back tomorrow – you’ll be sorry if you don’t!!!

PS you may want to test you printer settings & colour out put to print these out to how you’d like to use them – I have printed them on bristol board with inkjet, on transparancy using laser & photo paper with laser & inkjet – the transparencies came out a bit dark the others were ok though.