She regretted

- available on etsy -

Because of your comments my journal page stayed the same... Thank you. It makes sense that is should stay like it to represent how I was feeling at the time. Instead of painting over the page, I used a canvas board and this lady showed up. I hope you are enjoying the weekend. I am. Not quite healthy yet, but fighting it and loving the unusually hot weather we have.

New journal

I started a new journal with this sickly looking page. Maybe it's because I am sick... I have a stupid cold and feel like a bus ran over me. I'm not sure that I'll be able to look at this page, I might change it completely. That's the beauty of gesso and paints... maybe a rabbit will live on it before the days ends, and not the girl. Maybe I should take some fever reducing medicine before I paint or type or do anything. Hugs to all......

Getting arboreal: A Nature collection

Alone with myself
The trees bend to caress me
The shade hugs my heart.
~Candy Polgar

Julie and JeriAnne are documenting changes in a single tree over seasons and inviting everyone to join. I couldn't miss that. Trees are my friends. My daughter laughs when I comment how 'this' three is my favorite - she says that all of them are my favorites. My husband is a tree hugger. Actually, the whole family has been seen hugging tress and talking to them. Of all of the favorite trees, I chose the one closest to me - the one in my backyard. I picked an unfortunate time to photograph it, when the sun was too bright so everything looks washed out. I will add a a good photo on Saturday, when I have the chance to see it in the morning and when the shade really "hugs my heart".

One of the things I love about this tree is the fact that every new leaf is born as a pinkish red and then gradually changes the color to green. I love that!

And since I mentioned Julie of Lost Luggage, this seems like a perfect opportunity to mention that her new class Art Journaling Super Nova (I love that name!) is starting soon. It will be informative and fun - you can see the promo video here. One more thing - visit her blog for a chance to win one of the classes for free.

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Satruday. Added the shade picture. I have been enjoying this shade all summer. I'm glad that this made me take a photo of it.

I should have wrote that I love shadows, not shades on the next one...

Feeling free

Feeling free. That's the only thing I can think about when I look at this painting. That is how I felt when I carved 3 hours of "me time" yesterday afternoon. A piece of cardboard, tons of color, felt beads, scrap of fabric and linen thread... and pure freedom to allow the hands to create whatever they want. Loved it! Couldn't help but miss the days when I didn't work and got to 'feel free' the whole day long. 

I always enjoy playing with the cropped pieces from the painting in Photoshop. Makes me think that I would probably enjoy abstract art. The problem is - I don't know how to create an abstract painting without making it look like a background that is missing the focal point. I'll stick with Photoshop for now.

Carry your childhood with you

A black & white day...No, not really.... Lots of colors in my day and on my painting.
Thinking about my childhood...
My parents...
The "little me"...

She remembered goose-bumps she felt as a nine-year-old.
- sold -

Re-working the pages

I am nearing the end of my journal and it's fun to look back and turn pages from the beginning. While I enjoy most of them, there are several that I just couldn't stand... at all. There is no rule that you cannot change your journal pages, so that's what I did - took a paintbrush and added more paint. This lady had a kerchief on her head (or something that was supposed to look like it). It looked wrong... I added meaningless colors around her head and found the words that were expressing what she (I) is trying to say and now I'm much happier.

The second one is a total disaster! I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure that I was looking at someone else's work... don't remember whose. I'm sure that I admire the work of that artist, but my version simply doesn't look right (to me).  I was tempted to just gesso her over, but before that decided to express what I feel about her. That was enough. Now I can look at the page and smile - it shows  exactly what I feel.

Friday already? Weekend again? How wonderful!

Need a good laugh?

If you do - take a look at my pitiful garden. Funny? Or sad? I don't have a green thumb obviously... Want another look? Look at this:
And to think that 3-4 months ago I was writing that I want to be a farmer... My garden looked much better then.  My dh is more successful (he takes care of all the other plants). We planted a grape wine this year and were rewarded with grapes! How cool is that? Can you see me in this photo?
We quickly produced wine from our grapes... Not really, but they were a nice compliment to the wine we bought. 
I will not give up... I am going to plant a fall garden and hope that it will look better. It's all a learning process, right?