Karen's Muse and Musings

Documented Life Project Week 5

Well, I'm running a little behind. Nothing too unusual about that. At least I am staying on track and continuing this project. This is my interpretation of this week's theme, rather last week's theme, which was:

Art Challenge:  Under Paper (paper on your work table that gets all inky while you work)
Journal Prompt:  What Lies Beneath?

I used under paper in my last spread, so I was ahead of the game on that one. This week I tore strips of that paper to form the ground for my tree. Why did I choose a tree and its roots to illustrate the prompt? I can't really tell you. All I know is it came to me in the middle of the night, and I can't argue with my muse. I started to draw in the roots when that pesky muse spoke again, telling me to cut them out of old encyclopedia text. So there you have it. I started to have a bare tree, but my dear husband said it looked eerie. Normally I would just ignore him, but I'm longing for spring and decided a few spring leaves were in order. On to next week's spread!

Documented Life Project Week 4

What? It hasn't been another 3 years? Well, only 1 day later, and I've actually created a new piece to share. This is also for the Documented Life Project. This week's journal prompt is Words with Friends, and the art challenge is Writing. Above is a close-up of the right hand page and below is the entire spread.

I'm really proud of this spread because for the first time in ages I actually felt inspired. The theme helped. For several years now, I've been corresponding online with someone in the Netherlands who has become my very special and close friend. We've shared a lot of words over these years. The dictonary pages in the background were a gift from her, coming from an old dictionary that belonged to her father. The bird is a print of one of my own painted birds, and the colored paper strips behind the bird are torn from newsprint that I keep behind my art while I work. I save them because every now and again, they provide the perfect serendipitous touch.

Where has the time gone?

It has been over THREE YEARS since my last blog post! I knew it had been a while, but I can't believe it's been that long. A lot has happened during these years including my mother's death and the birth of another grandson. Losing my mother took away any desire to create. Thankfully, that desire has returned. So, I don't know if anyone is out there since you've probably all given up on me, but here it is — my first post in over 3 years.

In an effort to get the creative juices flowing again, I decided to particpate in The Documented Life Project. The theme for January is "The Blank Page and How to Face It." This past week's art challenge was the color wheel, and the journal prompt was a quote from Georgia O'Keefe:

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way..."

So here is my interpretation of the challenge and prompt.

I began by gluing down patterned tissue paper with matte medium. Then I painted Golden Fluid Acrylics Titanium White to tone down and partially hide the tissue paper. After that, I used Distress Paint (Spiced Marmalade, Peacock Feather, Peeled Paint and Faded Jeans) to paint over my background. I dabbed and smeared with my fingers. I should have photographed my fingers during this process, but you can imagine! Then I used this texture tool with the white acrylic paint to put white spots and dribbles all over. I die cut the letters to spell out color. I decided the spread reminded me of a garden, so I cut this poem written by Vita Sackville-West.

This little space which scented box encloses
Is blue with lupins and is sweet with thyme
My garden all is overblown with roses,
My spirit all is overblown with rhyme.
As like a drunken honeybee I waver
From house to garden and again to house;
And, undetermined which delight to favour,
On verse and rose alternatively carouse.

I scattered some random words around the page, then stamped a honeybee image and a flourish in black ink.

I'm excited to approach the next week's challenge, so hopefully it won't take me 3 years to get back here!

Coming out of the funk

So, have you missed me? I know at least a few blog followers out there have noticed my absence because they have contacted me. Sometime in August, I totally lost any interest in art or blogging. It could have been the heat (which thankfully is now a thing of the past — soon I'll wish it would warm up!) or perhaps just a burnout. I don't know. I'm not sure I'm really out of the funk yet, but I have created a few things this week.

I painted three trees this week. The first two are spooky. As my friend Trinka said, "Yikes! They're creepy."

These ghostly collage/paintings are for Lisa on my OhMyGothic yahoo group as part of our 4"x4" fatbook page swap. I had so much fun painting these trees — imagine that! actually having fun doing art — that I decided to paint another tree, not spooky this time, for Trinka's 4x4 page.

If you follow my blog, you may remember that way back in August I wrote that my next post would be my 400th and I would offer a giveaway to celebrate the occasion. My math was off (that's not surprising) and this is actually my 399th post. So stay tuned. Next post I will offer a piece of my art to one commenter. I will do my best not to wait another two whole months before my next post!

Lovely Day

So, I've had the loveliest day completing a course for my real estate license CE requirements. The course was Construction Details and Trends, and it was absolutely fascinating. Can you say sarcasm? I knew you could.

Now that's behind me, and it's on to more fun endeavors. I am joining a knit along sponsored by Joyce of Elliebelly. It's called the Elliebelly Knit-n-Telly. (I don't care how look at it, that's a much better name than Construction Details and Trends!) Click here for more info on the knit along. Here is the gorgeous Elliebelly yarn I'm using.

I am going to knit some soakers for my sweet grandson Patrick, almost 5 months old now. I don't usually post much about my knitting, but I will post photos as I go along. Here is a beautiful photo of Patrick and his mommy, Dana, taken recently at the beach.

This is my 399th post! In my next post, I will celebrate reaching 400 posts by giving something away. Come back!

Every Inchie Monday — Sunset

A quick and simple interpretation this week. I used a 1-inch piece of a background I had previously made and added the setting sun with a Marvy LePlume pen. I haven't used those things for so long. I'm amazed they weren't all dried out.

Summertime Spread

I just finished my July pages in the Holidays Altered Book round robin. I worked in Karen Campbell's (also affectionately known as Karen Brattypants) book this time. Choosing a summertime theme, I painted a seagull on this side and a rainbow trout for the opposite side.

This was the first time I painted a fish, and it was fun. I'll probably do it again. My sister has told me that I post the photos too small to see the paintings well, so here are close-ups of the bird and fish. You can click on the photo and see them even larger. Just kindly overlook any flaws you might see then!

Every Inchie Monday — Nest

Nest is today's theme at Every Inchie Monday. My art time has become so limited since I babysit my two grandsons 2-1/2 days a week that Every Inchie Monday has become Every Now and Then Inchie Monday. For this one, I cut a 1" square from a textured background I made a while ago. I sculpted a nest with lokta paper twine and glue, then I made tiny eggs from polymer clay. I used a mixture of turquoise and pearl, then dabbed a bit of brown paint on them. I made the photo here larger so you could see it better, but it's all pretty tiny.

Another 4x4

My second page for the 4x4 fatbook swap is for Leslie Anderson whose theme is "Wings". Naturally I was very happy when I saw her theme — another chance to use one of the birds I recently painted. I wanted to add a special touch so I created little egg "buttons" out of polymer clay.

So Cute!

Recently I made a couple of dresses for my granddaughters Kathleen and Leighton. I thought the dresses turned out really cute, but they look even cuter on these adorable models.

Kathleen, age 2

Leighton, age 8 months