Quick Little Catch Me Up

Hello Beautiful Ones! Ready for Some Atsy Fun!

I hope your new year has been skipping along nicely.  Personally, I've had lots of artsy fun lately. Most everything is in various stages somewhere between sketch and background.  I sure hope I can get a little time to finish up a few this weekend.  I thought as a tide me over I'd post a one of my "Star" ATCs (artist trading cards) which I will be sending off to swap tomorrow.  I hadn't gotten out my watercolors recently and it was fun playing with them again.  I have a relatively large word painting that I am going to do in watercolor and I figured it would be prudent to practice with a mini painting first. 

Next, I'm showing off a photo of my version of the "Beacon of Light" art journal page based off the Life Book lessons.  I'm actually pretty happy with her.  The flying heart and floating key are elements that came to me during a meditation and fit the theme of an artistic muse or guide perfectly.  I think the most challenging part of Life Book will be participating in the lessons and prompts but still keeping them wholly my own.  (Not that if something is completely new I'm against copying parts to get the hang of a special technique before taking it in to my own direction -that's part of the learning process)  

I'm totally excited about seeing so many artist's versions of art and hearing what inspires and moves them.  I will probably be able to manage the time for about half but the great thing is I can download the rest and then one year's worth of lessons actually becomes two year's worth.

Well, I'm going to keep it short and sweet tonight.  

Have a blessed week and keep on creating :)

Music (so much fun -I love this song!): 

Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk ft. Bruno Mars

An Artful Start!

Happy 2015!

Its been a kind of  Fast  s l o w  start to the year.  Unfortunately its not going to be an easy beginning with more struggles for the family to withstand.  But we are strong.  God is good and He is in control. I am continually learning to trust in His great Sovereignty.

Now on to the artsy side of things; this weekend has been so lovely!  I signed up for Tam's Life Book 2015 which is a year long art journaling online workshop with lots of different teachers.  It is going to be fabulous and I am so excited.  I just completed the week one warm up exercise.  A page with lots of layers (yeah -one of my favorite things) and our word for the year.  

I am really being drawn to "P" words this year. So many are so applicable: passionate, perseverant, positive, prayerful, peaceful, prosperous, patient, perceptive, powerful, pure, plentiful, praiseful but the one I've decided on is "Purposeful."  

I tend to float through life instead of taking charge of my destiny and while there is something quite positive in drifting, there is such power in having a definitive goal in mind (what is that quote, "If you don't know where you are going, you can be sure that's where you'll end up" or something like that) Well, Ok I'm not sure yet my exact destination, but I'm going to figure it out. AND then come up with a do-able plan to achieve my intentions.  So there.  Imagine me standing tall with hands on my hips and a focused glint in my eyes. 

Another part of the warm up page included finding a personal symbol for the year.  After the meditation (also part of Life Book) certain images came to mind; a key, a heart, a star.  I also know that the rose in honor of my mom and the anchor in honor of my dad will play greatly in upcoming artwork.  For this page, I chose to include the anchor.  Instead of the taped tight intentions of the warm up, I chose to have mine slipped into an open envelope which sort of resembles a flower with my writings on the backside of a note with a "pure" heart.  As I want my goals to not be secreted away but easily accessible both actually and symbolically.

The next journal page will be a "Beacon of Light" - a whimsical character I am taking to represent inner wisdom and artistic muse.  I have a quick sketch of her in one of my journals -now I've just got to find the time to bring her to life.  Ah... Next post possibly?

Just a Beautiful Mix of Amazing Music