Chicago - I've Been Everywhere Man - I've Been Everywhere (almost) . . . .

CHICAGO 2014

The Museum of Science and Industry (that's hubby in that there astronaut suit)!

The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art (Obama gave $1M to this museum)! and the Art Institute of Chicago

Deep Dish Pizza Chicago Style!

A photo shot as hubby and I stand under the "bean".  

France - I've Been Everywhere Man, I've Been Everywhere (Almost) . . . .

Labyrinth Visit While Traveling Through France April 2016

This is the world's famous Gothic Cathedral - Chartres!

This is the Labrynith inside the cathedral where pilgrimages were made hundreds of years ago, or tourists (like me) can walk in their own spiritual pilgrimage.  

The Art of Natural Dye + Book Making - Another Finished Book!

Very happy with the end results of this art book.  The pictures are not in order as completion but I will label each.

Stitching on bric brack to fancy up the plain yellow (tumeric dye) cover.  Also added a flower shaped button and a green center bead, along with a chord.  

Finished the hand sewing of the bric brac.  Happy with the results. 

Decided to add some tiny beading for additional jazz!

Finished the beading and decided to add beads to the wrap around chording.

Just so you know, I stitched in four signatures (page groups) of three pages each!  A total of 48 pages to sketch on, write on, paint on, or just leave empty to enjoy the dyed paper appearance!

Here I am showing you a center page that has been sewed and knotted with the Japanese Stab Binding technique.

Here is a side view of the sewing technique.  Hopefully you can see this well. 

Pastel Painting - Beautiful Ladies

Loving my soft pastels!  Loving this lady.  Look at how all her features, her mouth, her eyes, her check bones are all so soft looking!  One of my favorite Beautiful Ladies!

Don't hate me but . . . .

Enough said . . . 

My Back yard Visitor!

People!!!  Is this a Possum?  

Whoo!  Scary to me!

Other People's Words That Move Me

Excerpt from A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

(a well loved, well read, often read novel of mine that sits comfortably on my bedside table).

"What if, once upon a time there were no stars in the sky at all?

What if the stars are not what we think?

What if the light from afar doesn't come from the rays of the distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into Angels?"

Oh my gosh - read it again - slower this time!  It is BEAUTIFUL!

Pastel Painting - Beautiful Ladies

Twiggy (from the 60's) look alike - maybe.  

I love learning new techniques with my soft pastels and my pastel pencils.  

Zentangles

Believe it (or not) doing/creating Zentangles will most definately help to get your creative juices flowing!  

Book Making

Below are three pictures of binding used in book binding.  The procedures for each technique can be found on the internet or better yet, take a class with Delaney Smith.  She teaches at the art leagues in and around Houston!

This one is called pamphlet stitch.  Sorry its so hard to see 

 This stitch is the Japanese stab binding.  Your book will not open flat. 

This one is also Japenese stab binding but with more holes to make the pages hold together better. 

I'm Wild About Labyrinth's!

Labyrith's - my so favorite fun thing to do!  Well it's about more than fun - it's a spiritual thing!

I am walking this labyrinth at The Univerity of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.  It is beautiful!

Did you know that there are about 22 ish labyrinth's in and around the Houston area?

So there are two schools of thought concerning the Labyrinth.  One is from the Greek Mythology, and one is from a Christian perspective.  I prefer the Christian one.  The labyrinth was built in catherdals for the pilgrims that could not travel (make a pilgrimage) to the Holy Lands to prayer.  They would instead walk the labyrinth focused on prayer and their Lord God.  

So here's the Greek version:  The Minotaur (half man, half animal) monster had to be fed 12 young maidens and young boys each Spring in order to keep him happy.  King Mino's was not happy about this since he had a young daughter named Ariadne.  Theseus was on his way to Athens in time for the yearly tribute to sailing ships.  And so enters Bachelor #1:  When Theseus passed through Crete, Ariadne saw him and fell madly in love! (Of course).

Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of string so he could fasten one end of it to the labyrinth's door and unwind it as he went through looking for the Minotaur.  Ariadne promised to help Theseus escape if he promised to take her to Athens and marry her.  He promised, she helped and he did flee the labyrinth!  They jumped on his ship and set said for Athens . . . .  do you hear wedding bells . . . not so quick!

On the way to Athens, Theseus stopped his ship on the Island of Naxos where he abondoned Ariadne to go hang out with his good friend the God of Wine Dionysus.  With a little wine, Thesueus soon forgot his promise to Ariadne!

The story does not end well.  So Theseus is sailing along.  He told his father that a white sail meant he would sail smoothly into Athens, a black sail meant yeah wasn't gonna happen!  Theseus forgot there was a black sail flying - forgot his promise to his Dad.  Well, when his Dad saw the black sail up he was filled with grief over his son's death, he jumped off a cliff into the sea.

Remember to keep your promises!

Its All About Being An Artist!

What more can I say?  I know this must be true for you too because it is very true for me!

Here, here Pretty Kitty

Just had to share my pretty kitty with y'all today!  

Oh such a sweet good kitty!  

Meet Mozart

The Art of Natural Dying Paper and Fabric + Book Making

Book Binding . . . 

I enrolled in a class at the local art league for a Book Binding class where we dyed our own paper with natural ingredients.  

The course focused on two simple processes:  natural dye on paper and simple book making techniques.  The technique used for binding the book together was Japanese Stab Binding. 

Here are some photos of the dyed paper:

Indigo

Tumeric

Cochineal (flower from a cactus plant) and the right side of the page is indigo again

The following are swatches from fabric:

This is indigo.  I folded the fabric like a fan and then placed three rubber bands of different sizes around the fanned fabric and immersed in the indigo.  

These four fabrics are Tumeric, Indigo, Cochineal and once again the indigo fanned fabric with rubber bands for design.  

We have also used dyes such as avacado skins, rosemary, blueberry, and red and white onion skins. 

Pastel Painting

My way to cool Kitty Kat Mozart!  

My orange tabby kitty is just independent enough to have a certain arrogance about him that makes him way to cool!  So it was only right  that I paint him with jeweled pins in his hair and jeweled sunglasses.  

Other People's Words That Move Me

Excerpt from A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
(a well loved, well read, often read novel of mine that sits comfortably on my bedside table).


When true love is lost, life can bleed all meaning.  We are left blank.

But the possibility of destiny remains.

What we are meant for may yet be discovered, and once in a very long while that journey to find our destiny may defeat even time itself.

Pastel Painting - Beautiful Ladies

Getting back into my soft pastels and just absolutely loving the results.  Trying to learn how to paint pretty - no, no, - beautiful ladies!

So this one is actually darker than painted because I sprayed it with permanent fixative hoping that the pastels would not fade out.  Unfortunately the fixative makes the painting darker than originally painted.  I later read in the Pastel Journal never, never, ever use fixatives . . . . I think that may have just been a personal opinion because later I read yeah, use them . . . . just saying. 

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About. . . . .

1. My Movie Critique

   
   

   
   
   An Air Force drone pilot (Ethan Hawke) begins to question the ethics of dropping bombs on Afghanistan from the safety of his post in Las Vegas.
   
   I give it 4 stars!!
   2,970,000 results

1. 

   Good Kill

   2014 Movie

   Watch TrailerWatch Trailer

Poetry . . . "The Dead Poet's Society"

Some friends and I have a small but intimate group and we call ourselves "The Dead Poets Society."  Yeah you guessed it!  After the Robin Williams movie.

Our goal is to learn more about poetry and from that learning grow to love it even more than we already do.  (A side of me you didn't know eh?).

So we take turns chosing a DEAD POET'S poem (hence the name) study it, and then share it with the group.  We do much of this over the internet.  We keep our own notes or if you are like me - you actually buy a very special journal to keep all your notes in!  (Type A personality here!).

BUT  . . . straying slightly --  a BIG exception was made for Mary Oliver who is still very much alive!  I just love her writings!  She won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize and the New York Time discribes her as "far and away, this country's best-selling poet!"  Not to shabby!

Mary was born September 10, 1935, in Maple Heights, Ohio.  She studied at Ohio State University and Vassar College in the mid 50's but never received a degree at either college.

Here is one of Ms. Oliver's poems that I just love!

Mysteries, Yes

Truly, we live with mysteries to marvelous to be understood. 

How grass can be nourishing in the mouths of lambs. 

How rivers and stones are forever in allegiance with gravity while we ourselves dream of rising. 

How two hands touch and the bonds will never be broken.

How people come from delight or the scars of damage, to the comfort of a poem.

Let me keep my distance, always from those who think they have the answers. 

"Look!" and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads. 

by Mary Oliver.

Water Color Fun! Just Hanging Out to Dry!

Water Color Fun - or is it . . . sometimes I wonder . . . I'm not really that good with watercolors but I really want to be, so I keep at it, keep trying.  John Singer Sargent did a fantastic outdoor clothes line.  I pulled my idea from his.  But of - he was a art genius, I on the other hand am an art novice!