Happy New Year!

Tarot Tuesday

No Tarot readings, just Tarot art.

Shadowscapes Tarot - The Hermit

Sunday Favorite Things

Artichoke, with yummy buttery sauce. 

Armadillo, what a great way to ignore the world when it it bugging you.

 here he is on a more sociable day.

Acorn, one of my first lessons in the wonders of nature. 

That odd little nugget is the seed for this mighty tree.  The roots go as deep as the branches reach up. 

Happy Holidays!

Farm Stand come back to life

Crappy picture, the sun was so low and in my face, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.   I would have liked to get a picture after dark, but it is a long way from where I live, so I guess not.

Pen and watercolor wash

I don't know that it is art, but it is a lot of fun to do.  I don't have a plan, I just do a color wash with some vague idea in mind and then try to pick out what I want with a pen.  This one got too wet and the sky ran, or maybe it is trying to rain.

playing around on the computer

I think I am done with this one.  I started out with the idea of making this look like a woodcutting and it morphed from there.  Not sure yet if I like it or not, but it is different.

Solstice Sun Wheel

Join people around the world celebrating the upcoming Solstice, Yule or Christmas, which ever you observe.
A weekly prayer for peace and light as solstice approaches.
Visit here Beth Owl's Daughter for all the information.

Happy Thanksgiving

Enjoy the day.  Be grateful.  Share what you can. 

COLD!

When I got up this morning it was 6 degrees.  Cold, cold, cold.
Now I know that those of you who live in the Dakotas, Siberia or Outer Mongolia (and you know who you are) scoff at the suggestion that anything without a minus sign in front of it could be considered cold.
Well, consider this
6 degrees F  is -14 degrees C.   Now it sounds colder.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

the farm stand in November

Making greeting cards

from my collection of photos arranging them in sets and sticking them on Etsy.  I also have plans for some watercolor/glitter/anything-else-I-can-think-of cute cards for Christmas.  So far they are only plans and at the rate I am going they may stay that way.

I'm so tired

Long weekend full of stuff to do.  Hate the time change....animals don't have clocks to set, they know what time it really is, like feeding time.   I need a day off from everything.

ok, I'm over it

The elections were good fun, although we really should arrange for the voting to be on Halloween, I mean, what could be more appropriate?
The ads were horrifically nasty and expensive and repetitive, the election returns coverage was hysterical,  MSNBC was especially at the top of their game.
All participants have had the opportunity to whine and point and/or preen and strut.
It's over.
Shut up.
Back to normal life.

time is just flying by

The latest shot of my favorite farm stand, taken October 29.

They always have some great fancy pumpkins in mixed colors and odd textures. Or maybe they are some sort of giant gourd other than pumpkin. Whatever, they are different.

Remember this?  This was less than two months ago. 

first real snow on the mountains

 The view from Boulder Valley.

Early Snow

hanging on

I took this a few days ago.  It is the maple tree in my front yard and it is desperately resisting turning colors and losing its leaves.  So are many others in this neighborhood.  It is an older area with lots and lots of mature trees and they create a sheltered area for themselves.  We are having a few cold nights this week, will this tree give in and change to its brilliant fall foliage, or just dump all the leaves at once as they are?  It does dump everything almost overnight, but it usually puts on a good display first.

I think this is odd...

The desktop weather gadget says that the high today will be 54 and the current temp (at 6am) is 63.

I love this...

“Don’t ask what the world needs. 

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. 

Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” 

(Howard Thurman)

fall, again

Colorado fall landscape. Trees crowned with impossible shades of yellow and gold standing in front of cardboard cut outs of flat fake mountains. The sky a paler shade of blue than we see the rest of the year. The faint smell of woodsmoke and drying alfalfa that follows you even into the city. Fall in Colorado is worth even the winter that will follow.

 

 

Crown Hill Park

Reining

I spent part of the day handing out cards at a small reining show.  The weather was great, everyone was having a good time and I even got a decent picture or two.

One semi-political comment

I am not going to turn this back into a political blog, but I do have to comment occasionally.
I think that the Supreme Court was out of their collective heads to fling the door open and allow corporations anonymous carte blanche in political advertising.
The vicious, anonymous, you-can't-hold-me-accountable-because-you-don't-know-who-I-am political ads we are seeing right now are not what this democratic process of picking representatives is supposed to be about. Probably the worst thing about it is that it makes rational people want to throw up their hands and walk away, leaving only the whackjobs involved.

This one looks interesting

I listened to an interview with this author on NPR today and I will have to add this one to my To-Do list.  If he writes as well as he talks this should be fascinating.

First Light

First signs of snow

There was a little snow on the mountains today.  Not too many years ago many of the highest peaks visible from Denver had snow year round on their highest points.  Now they are dry and grey through most of the summer.

Fall

The last couple of afternoons have felt like fall for the first time.  Bright sun, some dark clouds on the horizon and a zippy wind knocking the leaves loose from the trees.  This is one of my favorite fall pics.  It is along a road that I have driven often for 30 years and it looks pretty much the same every fall.

Colorado Sky

If I painted a sky that looked like this, it would look fake.  Unretouched photo.  Northwest of Denver at 3pm.

Art Journal - Devon

I found this preprinted shopping list in a box of stuff in the garage. It is "Things to Get for the Whippet" and includes: cookies, bunny, treats at the bottom of the blank shopping list. I got this when I had Devon The Whippet. I wanted to capture just the colors and curves of Devon. The blue/green is for the winter coat he wore with a flower pattern.

Distracted from Morning Pages

I found myself distracted over this last month by little mundane things like trying to make a living.   And while I was still coming up with ideas for my creative projects, I wasn't putting them into action.  I was too busy spinning in place.  When I let this happen, sooner or later I feel the unbalance that this creates, an unbalance that I lived with for many years and am now consciously trying to drive out of my life.  Writing the Morning Pages, taking even a few minutes in the evening to work on a watercolor sketch, reading the artist's blogs that I have posted here... all these things serve as a counterbalance to the nitty gritty and free up my mind to be more productive and less hectic. So I fell back into bad habits for a few weeks, fuel was added to the fire by my internet problems, and I am climbing back onto the track that I want to be on.  One good thing is that I never put the watercolors away and I carry my morning pages journal and my camera everywhere I go.  I feel saner already.

Computer Editing Photos

fI like playing around with photos in PhotoShop.  Not all photos lend themselves to major changes because I am not a pro and haven't had any training.  My photos that I love the best are the ones that never see PhotoShop; those are the special ones.
This morning I just grabbed a photo from a file of 'leftovers' and started playing with it.  I liked the original, but it was pretty ordinary.

So I just started playing with it, changing the filter effects, making it into an abstract painting (that was ugly!) ..... I didn't have a plan or any idea where it was going.  After applying a cool filter, a mirror image, a sunspot and editing out some foliage I ended up with this.  I like the end result.  Lots of fun too.

I am ready to go back to pencil and paper...

really, I am.
So my internet connection is now slightly faster than dial-up in a thunderstorm, but still not where it is supposed to be.  But at least I can do things online for more than a few minutes at a time.
Work first, then play.  I will be back to try to get up to speed on everything and everybody over the weekend.
yay!

Internet Connection Chaos!

I am having internet problems.  Slow connection, keeps cutting off.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  Call the provider, tech has me rewriting code for the broadband card.  Yay!  it works!  For at least 10 minutes after I hang up.  Rinse, repeat.  I am getting close to a temper tantrum.

Afghan Hound puppy

Bright Water

reflection

Farm Stand

We used to call these farmer's markets until farmer's markets grew into the block long multiple vendor markets they are today.  I guess that's a good thing.  Especially for the farmers who are trying to grow organic and need a place to market their produce.  I still like shopping at these little stands better. This one is on my way home from where I work in the morning.

 This is a corner of the fields where the produce sold in this stand is grown.  The faint colored line across the middle of the field is zinnias and strawflowers.  They will sell them in huge bunches when they are ready.

Today I picked up a fresh green bell pepper, fresh onion and fresh eggs for a yummy omelet for dinner.

TAW check in

This is supposed to be the check in for Chapter 2 and the start of Chapter 3, but I am slowing the schedule down a bit.
I have been doing the Morning Pages and this week I did an Artist's Date (more on that another time) but I have not really had time to do the exercises or even re-read the chapter.  I skimmed through it last Sunday and that was it.
So I am going to stay at Chapter 2 and spend some time on the exercises.  Morning Pages are great, very hard to sit down and do them, but I feel good as I do them and they make a difference in the day.

Art Journal...this is gonna be fun!

My first art journal - title page

I have always wanted to do an art journal.  Whenever I see one on someone's site I have to stop and look at it.  But I have always been too intimidated to try it.  These last couple of weeks of being committed to having time for my art and doing TAW morning pages I am starting to think about my art more like I did when I was young and the process was the fun and the challenge, not the finished product.  I realized that I was looking at art journals like a finished piece of work, which I guess they eventually turn in to.  Then I realized that I needed to do an artist's journal as a way to explore, take notes, have successes and failures and keep them all together as a learning process.  So I sat down and started one tonight.  I have always been fascinated by how some artist's can seamlessly bind collage and original art together into one piece.  So I am going to experiment with collage.
I sat down this afternoon with some old magazines, scissors, glue, an unused sketchbook, and some watercolors.  I did this very simple page almost entirely from magazine clippings.  I like it.  I had fun.  It was like being in first grade only with a cup of coffee, sharp scissors and no Sister Mary PITA telling me that I was doing it wrong.  I felt like a little kid and really enjoyed the process.  I put a bunch of clippings that I like in a folder, stuck the folder in with my watercolors and it will be ready to get me started next time.

The Next Chapter - The Happy Book

I just got my copy today. It looks wonderful. I am going to read and start playing with it tonight.
When I was in the bookstore there was a woman in the aisle where I was hunting for this book, she had several books in her arms. When I found The Happy Book I leafed through it for a minute and turned around and almost ran into her. I know I had a big grin on my face and I held the book up and said "I can't wait!" I saw her checking out later....she had a copy of The Happy Book. I hope she has fun with it.

internet connections

I have been having internet problems all week, apparently my broadband card is malfunctioning. Wouldn't you think they would just get me another one and THEN figure out what is wrong with it? I had an online tech doing tests for half an hour and another that wants me to call him.
*sigh*
So I haven't been visiting all the wonderful and talented people engaged in the creative projects I am watching or participating in all week.
I hope to cruise around to my favorite sites this evening. Looking forward to a quiet evening and this would be fun.
Fingers crossed.

Avatar

I never saw Avatar in the theatre. I watched it last night, even without the 3-D effects it was pretty impressive.

The Artist's Way - first check in

So, this was my first week doing The Artist's Way and it was eye opening. I did the Morning Pages everyday except Saturday. I don't know why I skipped Saturday, I don't know what happened, it was just suddenly Saturday evening and I realized that I had not even thought about doing it in the morning. That was not good.

I did not do the Artist's Date - at all. I knew what I wanted to do. In the mornings I work for someone else, but in the afternoons and evenings I am self employed and have a lot of control over my schedule. I couldn't get it done. Everything else kept getting in the way. Obviously I was not making it enough of a priority, but I was kind of surprised to let this one slip away from me.

I did get some of the exercises done, not all like I had thought that I could do but I did some.

On the plus side, the morning pages really do help put things in perspective. After you blather on for a page about something that seems like the end of the world, suddenly it doesn't seem like such a big deal any more. And some little thoughts that pop into your head suddenly turn into important ideas when you write them down. I do like doing this, although it is really hard for me in the morning. I tend to be somewhat of a zombie with coffee for a while in the morning.

On the negative side, this is a lot harder than it sounds. The whole program together means actually valuing yourself, your ideas and your time. Apparently I don't do that very well.

Carrying on this week, trying to do more.

Creative Every Day - Fire

The Next Chapter

What made me happy this week?

I have stopped "planning" to get back to doing fun and creative things. I stopped wishing I had time to do the things I want and found a way to get started.

I am doing The Artist's Way and really enjoying doing the Morning Pages, they have motivated me to get moving. I rejoined Creative Every Day and I just found The Next Chapter. I don't have the book yet, but I have the message.

Probably the biggest thing is that my paints are not put away where it is a PITA to get them out to use. They are on the kitchen bar. Brushes, sketchbooks and paper, paints, jars, palettes, all sitting right out where I can work for 5 minutes or an hour, whenever I find a few minutes. I have sketched a couple of really bad watercolor sketches that have given me the inspiration for another and taught me some new techniques. I always wanted to watercolor paint, I have always been intimidated by it and I have always put it away at the first sign of 'ick.' Now I see lessons learned in 'ick' and I am having fun.

Creative Every Day - Fire

Fire in the sky. Dawn over Denver 8/6/10

The Next Chapter

I looked all over the net a few weeks ago to see if there was a new Next Chapter and I couldn't find one. I was so disappointed because I had really enjoyed the 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women. And guess what!? I found it. I forgot it was Jamie Ridler and when I linked to her page it came up. And along with it this video of a flash mob in Toronto.
So, the book is The Happy Book (have to go get a copy tomorrow) and the question last week was, what made you happy this week? Finding the project AND this video made me happy this week.