Mom Turns 80: So Much Gratitude

Tags

acrylic paint, art, art journal, Art Journal Every Day, gel pens, mandalas, Naomi Novik, quote

We made the trip to Wisconsin and back to New Jersey this last week and there was so much to be grateful for! I’m really pleased with the impact my daily painting has had on the backgrounds of my art journal. I didn’t paint on the trip or yesterday, but I’m getting back to it today.

My Mom turned 80 and my oldest sister did a great job organizing a party. It was great to see family and friends. Our boys hadn’t seen each other in more than a year and the night before Mom’s party the four of us went out for dinner and a movie. Beauty and the Beast was beautiful and the boys loved the music. We also got to see quite a few friends we hadn’t seen in so long. The “happy birthday” on the journal page is from one of the napkins at the party. I drew little mandalas on the page while my mom and I talked and caught up in the days before the party.

The quote is from the Naomi Novik book “Uprooted” that Mike and I listened to on our drive out to WI.

“I was a glaring blot on the perfection. But I didn’t care: I didn’t feel I owed him beauty.”

I hope you have a beautiful day on this rainy, Spring day.

Lenten Offering: Simple Paintings

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acrylic paint, acrylic paints, dictionary page, dictionary page art, Etsy, learning to paint, mandalas, painting

Yesterday in church our pastor was talking about the practice of giving up something for lent. She also talked about increasing an activity or behavior instead. I’m going to focus on using what I already have for art supplies and really focusing on painting. Well, I have been playing around with this book about learning how to paint with acrylics through the creation of 50 small paintings. I have done one and they make lovely backgrounds for mandalas.

So my plan is to make a painting a day as much as possible and work on the mandalas on the days I can’t paint. We are going to be heading back to WI in a few weeks and I wanted something more portable for while we are traveling.

Here is the book and the 2 paintings I did yesterday.

As you can see I learned that using masking tape on the dictionary pages doesn’t work very well so I’m just trying to keep tidy edges. One thing that is interesting about the picture of fields and trees is that the darker field is on the word “field” on the dictionary page. That was totally coincidence, but once I noticed it I tried to keep that part translucent. Something I learned in the making of the painting is that you can combine Mars Black with Cadmium Yellow Light to make the darkest green of the trees. The Moonlight Delight painting is for sale in my Etsy store. More paintings will be available by the end of Lent.

Still We Rise

Tags

100 Mandalas, acrylic paint, art, art journal, flowers, gratitude, gratitude journal, I Rise, mandalas, Maya Angelou, Poems, quotes

My new gratitude art journal is my first mixed media sketchbook!

I can journal for quite a few days and really play with things with this book. This page layout was from the past week and culminated in the Women’s March. I didn’t make it to Washington, DC, but I did go to Trenton NJ. It was a really uplifting day. Yesterday I taught part 1 of a mandala drawing class at my Unitarian Universalist Church. I donated the class for their annual service auction. The people who made it were really happy with part 1 and I’m looking forward to part 2 next Sunday. You will see some of my samples in this journal.

Here is my sample free-hand mandala and some very free for all art journal play. I’m going backwards chronologically so here is the beginning of the gratitude journal.

I got some new art supplies that are used in these pages and am playing with lots of flower images. I’m kind of doing a 100 flowers challenge as well as the 100 mandala challenge. I have really enjoyed doing a lot of mandalas as samples for the class. It gets me working in different ways. Another focus for the new year is to get a new blog for just my art and beef up my Etsy site.

The right hand page of the top image has much of the Maya Angelou poem, “Still I Rise” written out. It really captures the spirit of the march and was part of our minister’s sermon yesterday. I’m so grateful for the legacy of Maya Angelou. Here is the poem in its entireity.

Still I rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

I hope you encountered beauty today.

New Art in Exhibit!

Tags

collage, Eco Squared, Hatch Art House, mandalas, Maya Angelou, quotes, Seed of Life, upcycled art, upcycling

I finished 2 more pieces for the Eco Squared exhibit. One has a quote that shares a place of prominence for this year with the Wordsworth quote in my last post.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Maya Angelou

Seed of life mandala

For sale and on exhibit at Hatch Art House in Madison WI for the month of January.

Art Abandonment Rocks

Tags

100 Mandalas, abandon, art, art abondonment, Claudia McGill, Delight, ducks, mandalas, painted rocks, river, Whimsy

I have been wanting to do this for so long! I am so grateful that one of my very good friends invited me over to decorate stones with her. I have been having great difficulties finishing much of anything, art-wise so I felt so good about these 2 little stone mandalas.

The one with the pink and gold flower I gave to a friend of mine who has terminal cancer. The other one I abandoned when I was finally able to go for a walk!

There is a river that goes through the back of our yard and as a consequence our block is quite big. Walking around our black with my husband is something I enjoy very much and have not been able to do lately. So I have been saving the little stone until I could put it near the bridge over the river. I knew this was where I wanted to abandon it for quite some time, ever since I was inspired to do this by Claudia McGill. Please check out the lovely little ladies that she shares with the world to spread joy and whimsy.

So here is the little stone in position.  Are here are some photos to provide you with the loveliness and whimsy of this little spot.

There is a large group of ducks that has been staying in this little park for quite a few years now and my husband and I love to watch them.  See how they waddle in a line? A neighbor has allowed them access to her vegetable garden and shrubs and these ducks seem to nest along the river and in her shrubs. In the upper right hand corner of the photo is where I left my rock.

This bridge is the main way to and from school for a lot of the children in our neighborhood elementary school. I love to think about one of them finding it on their way to or from school and I hope it brings delight to them. Just thinking about it is delightful to me.

Have a beautiful day.