Different And The Same

I sat down at my desk the other night with an urge to create.  And I wanted it to be different then what I have been creating.

And this is what I created.  It is a bit the same, as it has a bird in it... a bird that I drew quite some time ago, and have since used in many creations.

But the rest of it is quite different.

As always I like to see how it looks in a matte.

 

I created it using some white acrylic paint, and my pan pastels.

 

Playing with Cacti

I really like a cactus or two, and when this week's drawing challenge was "cactus" I knew I had to join in.   

My mom had given me a barrel cactus that bloomed many times this past summer.  I enjoyed it so much, so decided to draw a blooming cactus - although I did not choose the barrel cactus.

 

 



This week I stumbled across this wonderful website that has beautiful terrariums with cactus in, 

And although I didn't have the beautiful jar, or quite the makings that he had.  I used pieces of succulents I  had, and made myself a terrarium.  I left lots of room for them to grow... which I hope they do. 

It makes me smile!

 

 



To see more artistic interpretations of "cactus", head over to this weeks host of the drawing challange.





Discovery

I love the sense of discovery - not being able to see the whole thing at first glance - looking for the layers.

With that in mind I created this chunkybook

that when open has many pages that are actually small pockets.

I decorated each pocket with a painted piece of paper

that I stamped onto with my handcarved stamps.

Within the pockets are small pieces

that are also decorated

on both sides.

 

I may just have to make some more bits and pieces to add to those pockets.

Cold Winter Day

It was a cold day today.  It was - 40.  No matter what scale you use celsius or farenheit, -40 is the same temperature on both scales.

I live at the base of these mountains.  It is very  beautiful but at this time of year our nights are long.  And although I love winter, I do enjoy the warmth and light the sun brings. 

As I mentioned in my previous post November was a difficult month for me.  The difficulties continue, but what is different is my approach, as I work hard to understand, accept  and move on. 

Creating always helps.  My creative release is usually with visual arts, but a few nights ago I created with words.

 

Winter Words

I sit quietly in the cold of the winter,

blocking out the parts of life not deserving of my energies.

I gently nurture the broken open vulnerability I feel inside,

as the days, now all too short, will lengthen with the light,

taking over my being and letting my heart

fill once again to overflowing.

 

On the visual art side, I am working on a couple of pieces

that are experiments.   I will let you know if they work out.

Note To Self

This year has been a challenging one for me, and creating has kept me balanced during many difficult times.  November has been exceptionally challenging, and I realized I hadn't worked in my journal all month.

So tonight I decorated a new page in my journal. 

and I wrote a note to myself. 

(On the days that are particularly hard - find a way to create and you will feel better)

I decorated the page with lino cuts I made and printed some time ago. 

Now  I will add some words to the page, and continue to remind myself to create every day!

Fundraising

My daughters hockey team is having a silent auction fundraiser, and so I made a new picture to donate.

It is a mixed media piece created on a tea bag. 

 

I then added a white mat to go around it

 

and it is ready to go. 

 

 

I am also donating this hand made book  

 

and one of my necklaces with a handmade bezel I made that I filled with river rocks. 

 

 

While I was creating, I made this piece as well

 

That I put in a white mat....

and a frame, and hung it on my wall, where I have decided it will stay.

Finding Some Light

Life has held many difficult storms lately, and I needed to spend some time creating without thinking.  To create whatever was inside me that needed to come out.

I have a few boxes of left over bits and pieces of things I have made or worked with at different times that I used in the making of this piece

 

I thought I was making a collage that was going to be folded into an accordian book.

 

And soon the book turned into a larger collage on watercolour paper.

I added a white matt to it and thought it was finished.

After looking at it for a while I added a bit of shading around the eyes of the drawing of the girl.  I now think it is finished, but we will see in a while.

 

The storms although still there, are beginning to show some light. 

 

Pendants From Old Bits

I have been wanting to make some more jewelry for a while, and finally got around to it.  These pendants have a piece of reclaimed metal on the back that I cut out of a piece of strapping metal. I filed them down, added a layer of paper out of an old book that I painted and stamped onto and then covered them with a layer of resin and wax. 

I usually make short necklaces, as I tend to wear those more than longer ones, but I have been noticing many lovely longer necklaces, so I added long pieces of chain (two types of chain) to these pendants.

This image does not show off the pendant well, as it has much more depth then you can see here.  I did want to show that you could wear the necklace long....

or if you wrap the chain twice around your neck before fastening it you can wear it as a short necklace as well.

I have a few other ones in the making that I will hang on a cord instead of a chain.... but I would love to know if you prefer to wear long necklaces or short ones!