update

First of all, Lori's 10 year heart celebration was wonderful and very special. She loved the book I made for her.

We went out for Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and step-dad with my nephew joining us. Mom and I caught up on a couple games of Scrabble in the afternoon. We are viciously competitive when it comes to Scrabble! We love playing. We each won a game that day.

Thanksgiving evening, upon returning home, Max notices a couple of Bratz dolls on my art table. He wants to know what they are doing here... I mean, there are no 'girls' in our house.... and these dolls were naked and missing their feet! Well, I got them on Freecycle and just need them for the hands so Max's little eyes lit up and he wanted to know if he and Sam could have the rest of the dolls. I'm thinking, "HUH?" well, they joyfully ripped the arms off the dolls, pulled out scissors, and proceeded to cut off all the dolls hair! Here they are in action... which, by the way, brought them great pleasure. It was so fun to watch them... they are truly my sons in this moment... from a retired hairdresser/artist, getting to watch both your boys cutting hair and altering dolls... well, it makes me giggle. Here they are:


Sam, my little entrapenuer, got the idea that if they could get more dolls, they could give them new haircuts and sell them to girls at school! LOL! Now this tells me he is Chuck's son! hehehehe! They did get another doll head, asked me to give it a mohawk, color it red, and then they decorated the face, stuck the head on a chop stick and promptly named it the Magical Laughing Wand because it makes you laugh when you look at it. And let me tell you, they both had their giggle boxes on full blast over this.

Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning my studio! I had the boys clean their half of the room, the play room, on Wednesday and now my half is clean and it feels so great! I finished a piece of work today... my piece which was the meditation response to the Samaritan Woman from my Art Expressions Bible study class. The words are: The thirst that from the soul doth rise doth ask a drink divine." I used tar gel to create the illusion of water dripping down the painting. I'm happy with the result. There's a close up of the words with the "water" running down. I love the affect.



I am now counting down the days until next Friday... Fran and I are going out of town for a girl weekend!!!!!! I've never done anything like this and I'm beyond excited! We're driving up to Prescott, AZ which has turned really artsy in the past several years with many funky little galleries all over. We'll be taking our own stuff to work on too! This is our birthday celebration weekend a little late. We're both still working on gifts for each other too so now the time crunch is on. I worked several hours today and am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel! I can't wait to give her my gift!

Well, it's bedtime for me. Gonna' hit the hay.

brows

After getting the best tip ever, I added the second eyebrow. Kari, in my diva yahoo group, suggested drawing a brow onto something clear... I used a scrap of transparency. Then, you can put it on and try it out! What a great tip! I liked the second eyebrow so I quickly added it. So, here she is with two eyebrows!

Opinion needed

OK, I did this painting on canvas paper this morning which will be mounted on paper and added as part of my "page" for Lori's book. I titled this piece "Joyful heart". Do ya'll think she needs the other eyebrow? I did this drawing with my non-dominant hand and I initially didn't put the eyebrow there but I'm wondering if it needs to be there. What do ya'll think? Anyone out there?

A special gift

For several days, I have been like a mad woman working on a special gift for my friend Lori. This Saturday, a party is planned for Lori in celebration of her 10 year birthday with her new heart. Yes, Lori had a heart transplant 10 years ago when she had 4 children under the age of 4! The youngest, a set of twins only a few months old when she got her transplant! Wow, I can't believe how the time has passed. I remember that time so well even though Lori and I only knew each other by association at that time. I prayed for their family many, many times. Since then, Lori has become a very precious friend and is also my co-teacher for my Art Expressions Women's Bible study class! I love Lori dearly. This party was planned and each person attending was asked to take time to write out their thoughts about how Lori has impacted their life. I was approached to make a book of some sort to compile all the letters as a gift for Lori.

So, the book has been my latest project. I was inspired by the latest issue of Quilting Arts with an article for making book wraps. My book looks NOTHING like those in the article and I did take the idea and convert it into an actual book instead of just a quilted wrap. The front cover was created by weaving strips of fabric together and then adding some sparkle and overlaying it with gold organza. For the inside cover, I cut out quotes, poems, prayers, scripture, hymns, etc... all containing the word 'heart'. I then arranged them on top of a piece of fabric and added hand cut hearts from various red papers. Then, I added the same gold organza over the top and quilted it. The edging is blanket stitched and the inside has page protectors bound with screw posts making it easy to not only add the letters but also additional pages if needed. I added a 'rope' of various fibers to wrap the book however, the book does have a magnetic clasp closure. I also did a little beaded heart on the flap with a hand in the middle to represent 'receiving'. I can't wait to give this to her. I know Lori and she will be thrilled.

class photos

Many of you may remember the amazing class I took with Katie Kendrick in August called "Let's face it, be fearless". Anyway, Katie generously allowed me permission to teach this class for my women's Bible study group called Art Expressions. We took 3 weeks (Tuesday mornings) using various meditation techniques to meditate on the story in John 4 about the Samaritan woman. It was a great 3 weeks. While a few of the women managed to get out the door with their canvas's before I photographed them, I do have 13 of them photographed. There are 17 of us in class. I haven't finished mine since I spent much of the class time helping. I have a very wide range of women coming from different art backgrounds all the way from some with no background at all to some with gallery showings! It's interesting trying to teach such a range and I wish I had more time to spend with those "beginners" to help them with some techniques but time just doesn't permit it. Anyway, if you are interested in seeing some of these pieces, I uploaded the photos to flickr here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/77671127@N00/sets/

I hope the link works!

One less tooth and a new painting!

I just finished this painting based on the scripture verse in Matthew 7:13,14. It says: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many eter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (said by Jesus) I am sensing God wanting to teach me what this means in a broader sense for every day life. When I read the verse, although it is not new to me, I saw this picture in my head and created it on a 16x20 canvas. It only took me two days! And, I discovered that a caulk transfer will work with a magazine image! :)

On a family note, Max lost his first tooth on Friday. He had his teacher pull it. He was so excited!