What Art is to Me

Art, to me, is a new-found passion after years of performing as a research chemist using the left side of my brain. It is also a way to deal with my perfectionist tendencies. I especially like altered art and art journaling where there is no real right or wrong. It is my time to relax and just be myself and let myself play. I think I might have been artistic once as a child and it has been a lot of fun rediscovering that passion now. It has also given me a way to connect with others with similar interests, which is also a lot of fun. Below are a few examples of my foray into the artistic realm:

Copy of Brown Creeper  I drew a while back

Another Vintage Bunny Card for Swap

Art Journal Page in Progress

This week's topic over at Gorgeous and Fun's Being Creative Blog Party  is:
"What counts as creative time, how much time do you need to create?"

http://gorgeousandfun.typepad.com/gorgeous_and_fun/

This is a very interesting question. For me, creative time is more than just being in my studio creating. It also includes creativity sparking - and I accomplish that in a variety of ways. One is browsing through other creative blogs. This is a great way to get inspired, learn new things and meet wonderful people.  Another way is to visit local Scrapbooking stores, art stores, etc. That can really get you going as you see new products and new ways to use old products. As I've already mentioned before, one of my most favorite ways is to look through creative magazines such as Somerset Studio.

But probably the most important of all is - as Nike says - "Just Do It!" So spending time in my art room playing is the number one way that I classify as creative time. I tend to get frustrated if I don't get some time to spend in there, and if my life is busy with other priorities, which is most every day, I tend to obsess over when I can get back to my art. This is a nice time of my life where I can actually spend time there, now that my children are older. So I look forward to spending more time in there in the future.
If you want to play along with the Being Creative Blog Party, drop by Amisha's place and join in the fun. I know you will be glad you did. It is a great way to spark your creativity!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Enjoy your day!

Vintage Bunny/Chick Swap - Pink Sat. & Being Creative

As a part of "Being Creative" and Pink Saturday this week, I am going to post a couple of items I've made for a Vintage Bunny/Chick Swap I am in. We will each submit ten cards and they will be divided among ten ladies and made into a Vintage Bunny Chick Book. The neat thing about this swap is that all of the cards are allowed to be different sizes. I can't wait to see how the book turns out. What a fun way to start celebrating Easter. Easter is my second most favorite holiday after Thanksgiving! And an even more fun thing about this is that my oldest daughter, who was on Spring Break, helped me and we had a wonderful afternoon being creative together. This hasn't happened very often since she has been in college!

4X6 Card with a "little extra"

Card Back

Made by my Dear Daughter - not included in swap

Back of her card

I will post more photos once the books have been completed. This is only my second swap, but I find that being involved in a swap forces you to complete things and pushes you creatively. It has been a fun and challenging way to stay creative.

The topic for this week in "Being Creative" is "Things that stop you from being creative". Well my first and foremost is, as it might be for a lot of people - time limitations. It is hard to make time to be creative on a regular basis. I tend to go in creative spurts. When I am busy with heavily scheduled times in my regular life, it is hard to slice out a little time to be creative. One thing I have been learning from reading other creative blogs is that even 10 minutes can keep you rolling creatively. So I have tried to do that - try to something creatively almost every day - even if it is for a very short time.

Well, if you would like to read more about being creative, head over to Amisha's blog at Gorgeous and Fun and visit some of the other bloggers there. She is one of the "pink" bloggers that I have met through Pink Saturday and has a wonderful blog.

And if you want to see other wonderful Pinks, stop over at Beverly's blog How Sweet the Sound. There are lots of fabulous links to every sort of Pink you can imagine.

Have a happy and wonderful Pink Saturday! Go be creative!

Being Creative - "Art Journaling Page: Paris" & Pink Sat.

Happy Pink Saturday!

This is another two-page spread that I have done in my Altered Book/Art Journal. I tried to use some of the techniques used in Strathmore's Pam Carriker's Art Journaling class as far as shading and blending. The red page on the right opens up and has more journaling inside. I have really enjoyed using the new techniques-it definitely gives the pieces more depth.  The background is a map of Paris that I had.

This is a great example of how to learn - taking an online class. This Strathmore Art Journaling class has been fantastic because it is free. I don't know if I would have had the courage to try it if I had to fork out lots of money to take it. But now that I have gotten my feet wet, I might try one that I have to pay for. But for now there are two more workshops - on that just started yesterday and one that starts May 1. Taking this class sure has opened my eyes to new things that I don't think I could have figured out on my own.

Another of my favorite ways to learn is through magazines like Somerset Studio, Art Journaling, Artful Blogging and more. They are just great to look through for ideas and links and also often have tutorials that help me to learn.

And today I would love to highlight a new blogger that I have recently discovered! Karen over at
A Scrapbook of Inspiration. She has the most wonderful blog and the most beautiful creations. You will just love her blog and her work and be blessed by your visit, I am sure!  I am in awe of her wonderful creations. Here is a peek at one of her wonderful creations!

Photo and creation by Karen at A Scrapbook of Inspiration

I am linking up today with Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound to celebrate another Pink Saturday. Head over there to see more wonderful "Pink" posts.



I missed the linking up over at Gorgeous and Fun this week for Being Creative 2, but thought I'd post anyway.  You can go over to her blog and see links to other posts on "Being Creative".

Why I Love Winter

As I was sitting here this morning having my coffee, I was watching the snowflakes drifting down outside the window. It struck me just how much I love snow! Snowflakes represent quiet beauty to me - and a time to slow down. When it is snowing it is necessary to slow down - you just can't go fast when it is snowing. It is, I think, God's way of making us slow down and "BREATHE"! When I am out in the countryside in the snow, everything is just so quiet and beautiful. It would not be so beautiful if everything was not covered with snow. The trees and plants are mostly sleeping and look pretty dead. Although I must say that the evergreens are glorious! And even more so when they are sprinkled with snow. We went skiing today and it was absolutely stunning out there! So here are a few shots. Enjoy!

Our deck on Long Lake - It will be grand this summer!

The stairway going down....

 Our picnic table...

Looking back away from the lake - that's where our house will go!

A couple of interested friends...

More Snow!

Shabby Chic Make-Overs

Today I am going to post photos of one of the projects I did with my daughter to make furniture for her apartment. This is a book shelf that we did and I really like the way it turned out.

Being Creative - Where Do I Create?

I have decided to join in the "Being Creative Blog Party" that Alisha is hosting over at Gorgeous and Fun Things.  I was a little reluctant to join in because I am not an artist - I'm actually a Chemist - logical thinking and all that jazz - plus a Latin teacher - more logic! But I do love to go into my creative space and "play".  It is healthy for my attitude and a release for me. I just have fun. Alisha challenged us to share how we feed our creative souls and slay the "fear" dragon. So I just decided to have a go.

This week the topic is "Where do we create?"  I have a small 9X10 room that used to be a study which I took over and turned into my little "studio."  My hubby calls it my "Girl-Cave". Ha! But I really like having all of my supplies in one area and a place where I can leave my work out to dry and just close the door. It is pretty messy most of the time, but it is my own little space. I have hopes of some day having it fantastically organized, but so far, that hasn't happened. Little by little I am getting it more organized toward the altered books/altered art/collage work that I have been doing. I am starting to dabble more into art journaling as well.  One thing about altered art and collage is that there is lots of stuff! And books - I love books! So I really enjoy reclaiming old, cast off books and turning them into art to be enjoyed.

Here are a few pictures of my space.

And I will add just a couple of art journal background pages that I have been working on. They are layered, so it is a process to put things down and letting them dry before you put another layer down. It requires patience, which I don't usually have much of - so I think it is good for me.

So if you would like to join in or see more creative spaces, head over to Gorgeous and Fun  and see the fun happenings going on.

Pink Art Journal Backgrounds - Pink Saturday

I am learning a new technique called Art journaling. I have always journaled the conventional way - hand written journals. But lately, I've discovered Art Journaling and it seems to mesh perfectly with my Altered Books and Altered Art. I have been spending some time making some background pages, so today I thought I would share some of the "pink" ones in celebration of Pink Saturday. I am also learning so much from the Strathmore Art Journal class. These pages will be added to later as I learn to journal more in this fashion.

It has been fun so far, and I am looking forward to adding to these pages. Happy Pink Saturday. For more wonderful Pink Posts, head over to Beverly's at How Sweet the Sound and enjoy some wonderful bloggers. They are quite a friendly bunch and you will be glad you did!

White Wednesday Art: "Peace in White"

I would like to show you one of my favorite pages from my Atlas Altered Book - this is a "Woman in White". I still have some work to do on this and I think I am going to add some shading that I have learned in the Strathmore Art Journal Workshop. But this is where I am at this point. Hope you like it!

 Peace in White

You can sort of see the atlas in the background, and the word Peace is from a piece of Christmas wrapping paper. The white is a torn paper doily. I am having so much fun with this!

I am linking up to White Wednesday over at Faded Charm even though it is Thursday here. I have been wanting to post on this Meme for a while now, so I am happy I got to it, even though I'm a little late. If you'd like to see other beautiful things in white - head over to Faded Charm and check it out.

More Artwork from my Strathmore Art Journal Class-Pink Sat.

These are the final - or almost final pages that I worked on after finishing the first one in the Strathmore Art Journal Workshop . I may work on these more, but this is how they look today.

 BE YOURSELF

"BREATHE"

Breathe is my word for the year. I am practicing trying to be more relaxed, less stressed and trying to learn to take care of myself. It is a process, but I feel it is a very important one.

I am connecting with Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. So hop on over there if you'd like to see more pink posts!

Strathmore Art Workshop Project 1

I have been participating in an online workshop sponsored by Strathmore which can be found at this link:  http://www.strathmoreartiststudio.com/  Workshop one, Recycled Journal Pages, is taught by Pam Carriker. The neat thing about the workshops are that they are self paced. You just enter your workshop and there you find a video, a supply list and instructions. Plus there are lots of discussions going on by participants. This is my first ever workshop like this - either live or virtual. It has been so much fun. I believe you can still join in. I am also signed up for the other two workshops. And best of all, they are FREE! It is an awesome opportunity. Here is my project in stages:

Step 1

This is the first step, in which you glue down pieces of copies of previous artwork onto a single water color sheet in the journal. These pieces were selected from some of my altered book art. The black and white tree is actually from a doodle/zentangle card made for me by my youngest daughter.

Step 2

This step involves journaling, shading with charcoal and oil pastels and then covering with thinned gesso. I addes the bird during this step, along with the shell, feather and oval seal.

Step 3

In this step, you continue to shade with acrylic paint, oil pastels and also fill in the negative space with textures. In this step, much of the journaling is mostly hidden.

Step 4

This is the final step in which the colors are revitalized and any additional journaling and shading are added.  This is a photo, so the colors don't really show up that well. But overall, I was pleased with my first attempt. I felt like I learned so much, just with this first attempt. I tried a few others, which I will post later. One thing I learned while doing this is just how much I DON'T know! But I highly recommend it. I just truly enjoyed the entire process.

Below I have included the pages from which I drew my pieces for the above artwork. Can you tell where the parts came from?

This last doodle in black in white was done by my daughter as part of a card for me. I really liked incorporating that into the image! I know that I will be doing more of this type of art. It is really fun!